Deceiving Appearance
by Gomjibar22
Summary: Naruto is successful at bringing Sasuke from the Valley of the End but during the return trip to Konoha Gaara learns Naruto’s deepest secret. Gaara X FemNaruto
1. Chapter 1

Deceiving Appearance

- Naruto is successful at bringing Sasuke from the Valley of the End but during the return trip to Konoha Gaara learns Naruto's deepest secret.

-Disclaimer- I do not own Naruto, if I did Naruto would not have "believe it" or any other stupid phrase in his vocabulary.

He first meets him as he fought with his brother before the beginning of the chunin exams, but was distracted by the Uchiha.

He then saw him fight during the preliminaries for the third exam and noticed something different about him.

During the actual third exam his suspicions grew about the blond shinobi as the demon inside of him stirred.

When they fought he discovered how similar they were to each other. They both were hated by their villages and they both carried demons inside them. The difference was how they dealt with the hate. He dealt with it by killing everyone who crossed him while the other dealt with it by trying to gain the peoples respect. Needles to say, this moved the boy deeply and he began to hold the blond in high regards, but he still felt that there was something about the blond that was off.

Then came the time when he could repay his debt to the blond and to Konoha by helping them retrieve a fellow shinobi. He fought with the green clad shinobi he injured during the exam to defeat the sound shinobi with the bone blood limit. Then he moved on the help his friend bring back the Uchiha.

He reached the valley at the same time the teacher of the two boys reached it. There, on the shore of the river were two bodies. Both were unconscious but still breathing. They looked in bad shape, but he could tell that it was because of the demon healing his blond friend that he wasn't dead. He could see the spot on his cloths were it looked like he was impaled through the chest, even thought the skin was healed, and even with the advance healing of the demon the blond looked worst off than the Uchiha.

As he watched, the teacher with the one visible eye moved to the two boys. He only gave the blond a quick glance before moving to the less injured Uchiha and carrying him off to Konoha, leaving the blond behind.

He moved towards the blond and wraps his friend protectively in the sand to bring him back to Konoha, back to the place that hates him. As they move through the forest he still can't shake the feeling that something is off about his blond friend. He looks at the unconscious body wrapped in the sand to try to confirm his suspicions. The happy idiot that the boy has on all the time is gone, but that's not what was off about the boy, he saw through the mask the first time they meet. So what was it?

They reach Konoha and he quickly takes his friend to the hospital. There he lays his friend on the hospital bed and looks at his unconscious form, and that's when he uncovered his friend's secret. He is a she.

-Hope you enjoyed it. This is the first chapter in a femnarutoXgaara fanfic. Please read and review and tell me if you would like to see this story go in a specific direction- Gonjibar22


	2. Chapter 2

Deceiving Appearance 

-Disclaimer- I do not own Naruto, how sad…

"Talking"

'Thinking"

Thank you to all those who read the story and reviewed, I'm surprised that so many people noticed the story that fast and responded. I'm glad you like the first chapter

**RickaZcurser**- thanks for you suggestions on what to do, I would never had thought to do that with Sasuke, but now it might happen…

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Naruto slowly began to regain consciousness.

The first thing she noticed was that, while her entire body was sore, all the injuries she received in her battle with Sasuke were completely healed. This came at no surprise for her because she was used to being in this situation. Usually it was caused by when the villagers would give her a near fatal beating for being the container of the Kyuubi, but no mater what the injuries were, she would be fine in a day without so much as a scar to remember the injury, just the pain and her memory.

The next thing she noticed was that she was in a semi-soft bed with... sand?

'Who the FUCK put sand in my bed!?!'

The blond's eyes snapped open and began to search the room until they fell upon "Gaara?"

The moment she spoke she knew something was wrong.

Her voice sounded higher then it normally did, almost as if it was her real voice and not the voice that she had been forced to use when the 3rd Hokage made her hide behind the semi-permanent henge.

Eyes wide open she glanced down at her body

"Shit"

And with that, she passed out.

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Gaara sitting next to her took in the entire scene with a small smile across his face.

First he saw the blond get annoyed and angry while her eyes were still closed,  
'must have felt the lingering grains of sand in the bed. But dam, she's sensitive, I only left a few grains in the bed.'

Then he say her open her eyes in anger and look around the room.

'Yup, must have been the sand'

But when her eyes fell on him he saw confusion spread across her face.

Then the look of confusion turned to shock as she spoke his name and saw her body, which promptly made her pass out.

All and all, if the red-headed jinchūriki hadn't been more confused he would be on the floor laughing his ass off.

(A.N: Yes he does that, but people don't see it because a: he just killed them and is laughing about it or b: they are running away because they are afraid that he will kill them)

But there was a question that was plaguing his mind that prevented him from enjoying the look on his friends face.

'Naruto, why are you a girl? Were you always a girl, or is this some type of problem involving the Kyuubi? And if you were always a girl, then why hide it?'

Yes, our red-headed jinchūriki was very confused.

Sighing he looked down at the unconscious body of his now female friend.  
Over all, her body became more streamline and curvy (aka: feminine) and her face was softer (think a cross between boy Naruto and Haku).  
But her hair remained the same length as it was when she was a boy and the whisker marks were still there.  
The most noticeable difference was the addition of breast on Naruto's body. They weren't small, but they weren't too big ether, the perfect size in Gaara's mind (think Temari and Hinata size breast).

Gaara had to admit it, "Naruto, as a woman, you look pretty good" he said the unconscious blond.

"Thanks, you're not to bad looking yourself."

Gaara's eyes went wide a Naruto looked up at him with a smile, not the fake smile she usually wore in public, but a real smile that took Gaara's breath away.

Quickly he regained his composure.

"How do you feel?"

"Better, the fox fixed me up, but I am exhausted. I can't believe I used up so much chakra that my semi-permanent henge wore off. Ha, that's just embarrassing" the blond said with chuckle.

'So it was a henge' thought Gaara.

"So, Gaara, besides checking me out when I'm asleep, why are you here?"

"I'm the one who brought you to the hospital."  
"Your teacher," sighed Gaara, "left you at the Valley of the End so that he could bring the Uchiha back. He left you there."

(A.N: Gaara is not trying to be mean, his people skills just suck)

"Y-you saw this?"

"Yes, I was in a tree at the time."

"W-well, maybe he knew you were there and would save me, so he-" Naruto began to say in a sad tone with a spark of hope in her eyes.

"No, I was too far away and was well hidden. He abandoned you."

Sadness filled the blond's eyes, but she quickly hid it behind a foxy grin mask

"Well, I'm used to it, so… it's… ok."

Gaara is not fooled by the mask, he knew his friend was hurt in by the actions of her teacher but was trying the hide it.  
The only problem was that he didn't know how to comfort her.

"Anyway," said the fake cheerful blond, "how is everyone else?"

"The Nara has only a broken finger and is concerned about the Akimichi. The Inuzuka and his dog are injured and currently resting, nothing life threatening.  
The Akimichi and the Hyuga however are in critical condition but thanks to the medics here, they are alive and expected to recover.  
Also Rock Lee is back in the hospital where he should have been recovering, with only minor injuries."

"On a brighter note," Gaara tells the blond in an attempt to cheer her up, "everyone was successful in defeating their opponents, and that includes you."

"How is Sasuke doing?" asked the blond.

"He will live, most of the doctors seem to be fawning over him and your pink hair teammate and your teacher haven't left his side, not even to see you... Sorry."

"It's ok, it's not your fault. It figures, though, that the bastard would get all the attention, even though this whole mess is his fault."

(A.N: no she does not like Sasuke)

"Hey Gaara, does that mean that the others haven't seen the real me?"

"No one has, not even the doctors. They just told me to put you on the bed and left, without even coming back to check on you."

"Oh… wait, does that mean that you were here the whole time? How long have I been out?"

"Yes Naruto and it's only been a day."

Reaching out, Naruto placed her hand on Gaara's shoulder

"Thanks, that means a lot to me," she said with a real smile that Gaara surprisingly found attractive and soon he was lost in thought about it.

"Hey Gaara," she said, snapping him out of his trance.  
"Can you help me put my semi-permanent henge back on? It needs two people to put it on someone" she said with a slight embarrassed smile.

"Naruto, I've been meaning to ask you about that. Why do you hide your true self behind the henge?"

Naruto put her hands on her lap and sadly looked up at Gaara

"It's because… not everyone is as lucky as you."

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-Well, here's chapter 2, hoped you like it, chapter three will be out shortly. Please tell me what you think- Gomjibar22


	3. Chapter 3

-Sorry I took so long with this chapter, I was sorting out the details of where this fic will go. Also, work has been a bitch with 40+ hours a week. I've been lucky to get one day off a week. But that's what I get for working at a turnpike rest stop, god dam summer jobs. ××

Disclaimer- I don't own Naruto, If I did, do you think I would let you read this story for free?

"Talking"

'Thinking'

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"It's because… not everyone is as lucky as you."

These words stunned Gaara, no one has ever said that he was lucky, what did Naruto mean? But before he could consider the topic more the blond continued.

"Your sand protects you, always, because of Shukaku. The Kyuubi on the other hand only heals the injuries I receive and makes it seem like they never happen. But even with them healed I can still feel the pain" said Naruto on the verge of tears.

"It happened when I was three, ha, it's funny, most people can't remember their early childhood, but I can't forget it. I still remember every moment and feel every pain."

Tears now began to flow from Naruto's eyes

"It was late at night and some drunken men found me in an ally. I was dumpster diving looking for food because the matriarch of the orphanage was refusing to feed me saying that the food was for 'human children, not a demon'. And when the men found me they… (hic) … raped me and left me for dead."

"The 3rd Hokage found me in the dumpster three days later. Lucky for me, not that many people knew I was a girl so he placed the henge on me so this wouldn't happen again" cried the blond.

Gaara was shock, 'Monsters! How could they do this to her! I'll KILL THEM!' Snapping out of his increasingly violent thought Gaara realized that his friend needed him right now. She had opened herself up to him and told him her darkest secret and he be dammed if he wasn't there to comfort her.

Moving closer to her, Gaara embraced the crying Naruto in a hug

"It's ok," he whispered. "I'm sorry I brought it up. It's ok, it won't happen again, I promise."

Sensing the distress, Gaara's sand reacted. But instead of shielding Gaara off from the rest of the world like it normally does, it formed a protective shell around the two. Soon Naruto's tears died down and she fell asleep in Gaara's arms.

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Naruto slowly regained consciousness, and for a moment she didn't know where she was. All she knew was that she was being comfortably held by someone. Soon the memories of the day came flooding back to her and she realized that it was Gaara who was holding her. Opening her eyes she saw that she was indeed being held protectively by Gaara who had his eyes closed in 'Sleep? No, it must be the meditation he does in replace of sleep'.

Not wanting to disturb him she stayed still and looked around with her eyes and saw that they were still in the hospital and that Gaara was sitting in the chair next to the bed. Mentally feeling around her body Naruto found that all her wounds had healed during the course of her little nap.

Despite Naruto's best efforts, the change in her breathing patterns alerted Gaara that she was awake and he came out of his meditative trance. Looking up at him Naruto smiled, "Thanks, I needed that."

The smile directed at him caused Gaara's heart to flutter and he could only smile back with a warm smile which caused the skin around Naruto's whisker marks to turn slightly pink.

Slowly Naruto got off of Gaara and got off the hospital bead. Raising her arms over her head she starched out with audible cracks from her joints as she worked out the kinks in her limbs and back.

Turning to Gaara she noticed that his face was bright read. Looking down at her self she realized why. Her torn up cloths (remember she never got taken out of them) were practically falling off of her, causing the red head's imagination to run wild. Deciding to have some fun Naruto tilts her head seductively towards Gaara with one hand on her him and the other hand innocently by her mouth. "Gaara-kun, do you like what you see?" she said in her most seductive voice.

This caused a small amount of blood to seep from Gaara's nose. Upon seeing this, the blond broke out in laughter at her friend's predicament which lasted several minutes.

Still chuckling Naruto said, "Sorry Gaara, but that was too funny, hehehe, anyway I guess I should put the henge back on now."

"Why? You're a ninja now, you can take care of yourself. You no longer need to hide your true appearance."

"You're probably right, but everyone knows me as a guy. It will be difficult to explain…"

Suddenly Naruto was cut off as the door to the hospital room slammed open

"NARUTO-BAKA! Here's where you've been hiding!" screeched Sakura. "How could hurt Sasuke-kun-" her eyes widened as she saw the now female Naruto.

"YOU PERVERT! Take off that henge!"

Before Naruto could answer in walked Kakashi, Hinata, Kiba, Shikamaru, and Tsunade.

"….."

"….."

"Dude, what's up with the henge?" asked Kiba

Naruto opened her mouth a second time to answer but was cut off by Gaara.

"Perhaps you should tell them the truth, Naruto"

Looking down at her feet, Naruto quietly said "It's not a henge"

This proclamation stunned everyone in the room, except for Tsunade (she already knew because she was told when she became Hokage), and even she was speechless that Naruto just gave away her biggest secret.

Tsunade quickly recovered from her shock and spoke to the members of the rooky nine that were there, "Wait outside the room and DON'T go anywhere. I need to talk to Naruto then," she said looking at Sakura who had her mouth open ready to make a comment, "you'll get your answers."

The confused genin walked out of the room and Tsunade closed the door behind them. Turning back to Naruto she let out her breath. Life just got more complicated.

"So Naruto, got tiered of acting like a guy?" Tsunade asked half jokingly.

"Hell yea! But the timing wasn't my idea. I was planning on waiting and release it slowly. But because of the fight with Sasuke the henge broke."

Hearing this Tsunade brought her hand up to her chin, thinking. "It probably failed due to a mixture of sever chakra depletion and the fact that you were covered in the Kyuubi's chakra." Looking up at Gaara, Tsunade smiles "Thank you Gaara for being here for Naruto, I would have come sooner but I was needed to perform the surgery on Choji."

Turning back to the blond a small frown forms on Tsunade face. "Naruto why are you still in those clothes, the nurse should have changed you into a hospital gown?"

Naruto was about to answer but was cut off by Gaara, "For that to happen, it would require a nurse or a doctor to actually visit Naruto."

It took a minute for what Gaara said to sink in but when they did, "WHAT! ARE YOU TELLING ME THAT NOT EVEN A NURSE HAS CHECKED UP ON NARUTO!?!"

"Correct, hokage-sama"

Quickly Tsunade ran out of the room and screams could be heard echoing throughout the hospital followed by loud crashes. Just as quickly as she left, Tsunade reappeared acting like nothing happened.

Naruto stared dumfounded at the Hokage "um, you've got red on you" she said pointing to her cheek.

Tsunade absentmindedly flicked the blood off and smiled at the two jinchūrikis. Walking up to Naruto she quickly performed a medical scan.

"Looks like the Kyuubi fixed everything, hell there's not even any scars or burses. Now all you have to do is rest up a little bit and recover your chakra. But no exercise for at least three days, you're still weak from the stress placed on your body."

This caused Naruto to groaned, no mater what sex she is, or is pretending to be, Naruto was still a stamina freak who loved to train. Tsunade could only hope that she would never develop feelings for Lee or Guy. She shuddered at thought.

Naruto, I've gotten a report from the other members from the team about what happened, I just need yours, Gaara's. Sighing Naruto preceded to give Tsunade her report followed by Gaara (it's the same as the TV series except that the final outcome is different).

"That matches up with everyone else, except that Sasuke is claming that the curse seal drove him to defect." Raising one hand to stifle to blonds protest Tsunade continued, "I know it's a load of bull, but the council has overruled me on this, he will not be branded as a traitor. In all likelihood they will probably have Kakashi do more special training so he doesn't feel left out," Tsunade said, the venom and sarcasm dripping off her tong.

"Anyways, you two seem very close now, any reason why?" Tsunade said with a smile. This comment caused the two teens to begin to blush profusely which caused Tsunade to laugh.

"Hehehe, sorry about that. That was just too tempting." Receiving to very evil glares from golden and red demon eyes Tsunade nervously chuckled. Quickly changing the subject for fear or bodily harm Tsunade once again turned to the blond "SO, do you have a female change of clothes?"

Smiling Naruto reached into a watertight pocket in her jacket and pulled out a sealing scroll. "A ninja is always prepared," she said with a smirk.

That it for now, hoped you liked it and please review.

I will be having my first pole for the next chapter:

What do you want Naruto to be dressed in?

1- A feminine version of her boy outfit

2- A Orange ninja version of Elulū outfit form Utawarerumono

(go to to look up how she is dressed because for the first time, Google has failed me, sniff)

3- Something similar to Temari's outfit

4- A female version of Kankuro's outfit with fox ears (not as bad as it sounds- Trust me)

5- Something overly sexy

Please vote on this matter and tell me what you think, and remember I find flames funny so write away mother fuckers, hahaha! Ja ne!


	4. Chapter 4

Deceiving Appearance

Disclaimer: don't own this, so get off my back.

Sorry it took so long for this update, I had a case of writer's block…ok, a major case of writer's block. So sue me.

Now (drum role) the results of the poll

1- A feminine version of her boy outfit: 7

2- A Orange ninja version of Elulū outfit form Utawarerumono: 5

(supposed to be Eruru…my bad)

3- Something similar to Temari's outfit: 21

4- A female version of Kankuro's outfit with fox ears: 4

5- Something overly sexy: 12

(People, this was put here as a joke. I have no idea what would have happened if this actually won)

The winner is

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

#2, something similar to Temari's outfit!

XxXxX

Stepping into the bathroom, Naruto peeled away the remains of her clothes. Pausing for a moment she looked down at her tattered clothes, 'Damn, I really liked that outfit too.'

Placing her ruin clothes in the trash she opened up the scroll and channeled some chakra into it. With a poof her new clothes appeared before her.

She quickly put on her white braw and panties and then put on a gray short sleeve t-shirt and some black skin tight shorts that went down to just above her knees. Reaching for her kunai holster she tied it securely to her right leg, making it tight enough so it won't move around, but not too tight as to be uncomfortable. Then she garbed her outer shirt/jacket. It was a burnt orange color, similar to that of a fox, and looked like Temari's battle kimono form the chunin exams. The only difference was that instead of leaving the shoulders bare, Naruto's battle kimono covered her shoulders and had a collar that went half way up her neck. Also Naruto didn't roll the sleeves up like Temari did. Instead she let them cover her entire arm, stopping just past her wrist.

Taking a moment to appraise herself in the mirror, Naruto could help but notice how the battle kimono showed off her assets more so then her orange jacket.

'Maybe I should dress like that scary examiner lady' she thought looking over herself. 'On second thought, no. I don't want to be eye candy for every guy out there, haha.'

Reaching for her head band Naruto tied it to her forehead and ran her fingers through her tangled hair, 'This is going to be a bitch combing out.'

Grabbing the necklace Tsunade gave her she put it on and place it under her kimono. Satisfied with her looks, Naruto took a breath and stepped outside of the bathroom.

Looking up Naruto meet the looks of both Tsunade and Gaara, one with a smirk on her face and the other with the usual impassive look on his face.

Still smirking Tsunade said, "Jess gaki, think you could show some more skin?"

"Hey!" replied Naruto, "I'm used to wearing pants and a jacket. For me this is an improvement" she said, crossing her arms across her chest and sticking out her lower lip in a pout.

"Ok, ok. Well you certainly didn't loose the color orange. But at least it isn't that neon orange of your old suit," said Tsunade.

"Shove it obachan. There's nothing wrong with the color orange."

Before the two could get into a further argument Gaara spoke up, "That kimono looks familiar."

"That's because I got the idea from Temari's cloths during the chunin exams," replied a smiling Naruto.

"It suits you" said Gaara, causing a blush to appear on Naruto cheeks.

Turning her head to hid the blush she said, "T-thanks Gaara-kun."

Coughing slightly, Tsunade got the two to give her their attention, "Naruto, there is still the matter of the others outside. How are you going to explain it to them?"

"No idea!" said Naruto with foxy grin planted on her face.

"Fine, I'll let them in." Going to the door Tsunade opened it up and let Kakashi, Hinata, Kiba, Shikamaru, and Sakura into the room.

Looking at the assembled crowed Naruto scratched the back of her head and smiled, "Where to start?"

"How about the fact that you're a girl" said Shikamaru in his usual lazy tone of voice.

"Ok, um, you know the story about the Kyuubi, how the fourth killed it. It's a lie. He sealed it inside of me when I was a baby to stop her from rampaging. I'm a jinchuuriki."

"The Kyuubi is inside you!?"

"Um…yes, but I'm not the Kyuubi reincarnate" she said wavering her arms around, "I'm just its container. And the reason why I pretended to be a guy was because of an incident involving the villagers because of the Kyuubi being inside me."

"W-what s-sort of incident?" asked Hinata

"The bad type that I won't talk about, 'k?" said Naruto giving them a fake foxy smile.

"Ok, that's enough questions. You can talk to Naruto later. Now leave" said Tsunade ushering the Genin and one Jonin out of the room before they could say anything else. "And Kakashi, we will talk latter about care for the injured on a battlefield" she said in a threatening tone of voice.

Naruto watched as her friends left the room, the trust and friendship she had built up with them crumbling. They didn't trust her anymore, whether it was because of the secret of the Kyuubi or her gender, the trust was gone, probably to never return.

Turning to her Tsunade reached down and enveloped her in a bear hug. "It's ok, shush, everything will be ok" said Tsunade as she saw a tear role down the girl's face.

Reaching into a pocket Tsunade pulled out some money, "Here you go squirt, go treat yourself and Gaara to some Ramen, on me."

Instantly the blond jinchuuriki's head shot up and she grabbed the money and Gaara's hand. Dashing out of the hospital she yelled, "Thanks Obachan!"

XxXxX

Bursting into Ichikara Naruto dragged Gaara over to the counter.

"Hey Ayame!" she shouted. "Three bowls of Miso Ramen and…" she said looking towards Gaara.

"Two bowls of beef Ramen, please" said Gaara.

"Coming right up" Ayame shouted back and within a minute the steaming bowls of Ramen were in front of the two teens.

"So, back to being a girl Naruto?" asked Ayame.

"Yea, the henge failed so I figured now was a good as time as any to let it out. I also told them about the Kyuubi too" said Naruto, in between the slurping of hot noodles and broth.

"You do know that now that you told people, the law making it a secret has been revoked, right?" asked a concerned Ayame.

"Yea, but that's just one more secret off my chest. Haha, can't have all those secrets on my chest making me go flat now, can I?" laughed Naruto as Gaara blushed from her off-color joke. "Plus I want people to recognize and respect the true me, despite my tenant."

Naruto and Gaara continued to eat on relative silence for a few minutes, Gaara is on his fourth bowl while Naruto is on her 15th.

"So, how dose Ayame know you're a girl?" asked Gaara in a confused tone of voice.

"Ah, she helped me with my…women problems" replied Naruto with an embarrassed smile on her face.

This statement caused Gaara to stop eating. He knew what she meant; he had to deal with Temari after all. It was the only times he felt truly sorry for Kankuro for the situations he would get himself into. Shuddering at the though Gaara said, "As long as you don't have a giant fan then I've seen worse."

This statement caused both Naruto and Ayame to burst out in laughter.

"Hahaha, Temari is, ha, that bad?"

"No, worse. But Kankuro usually pisses her off more so he gets the full brunt of it. I think he likes it, though" said Gaara in a flat tone of voice.

This admission caused the two girls to laugh even harder.

"Don't worry Gaara-kun," Naruto said seductively, putting her arm on his shoulder. "I'm not that bad, hehehe"

"Your worse" muttered Ayame.

Soon the two finished up with their meals and left the restaurant. It was getting late and the sun was beginning to set.

"That was fun Gaara. Thanks" said Naruto with a slight blush.

"I agree. Next time your in Suna, it's my turn to take you out" said Gaara.

"Why Gaara, are you asking me on a date?" said a blushing Naruto.

"Maybe I am" he replied with a smile. "My siblings and I are leaving tomorrow, at 9:00am at the south gate, will I see you their?"

"You bet ya! See you there" Naruto said as she turned to head back home.

XxXxX

Quickly word spread throughout to village that the third's law had been overturned and that Naruto was really a girl. Parent told their kids the truth about that terrible night and the academy changed its textbooks to accurately teach what happened. Needless to say all of her 'friends' began to rethink their friendship with her, after all, you have to be careful around someone with the potential to completely loose control of herself and destroy the entire village.

When morning came Naruto, along with Tsunade, Jiraiya, and some of the rooky 9 and Gai's team were there to see the sand siblings off.

Before they left Gaara leaned in close to Naruto and whispered, "Remember, it's a date next time you are in Suna." And with a light kiss on her cheek he left to head back home.

"Well gaki, you move fast. Mind if I take notes?" asked Jiraiya breaking out his pen and note paid.

"Ero-sennin, if you do that I will shove a kunai up you ass so far that it will come out you mouth" she said, smirking as the Toad Hermit gulped.

"Ok, everyone go back to where you need to be" ordered Tsunade. "Sakura, go to my office an have Shizune show you the next step in the medical exercise, Naruto, take it easy today, you still need to recover from your injuries."

It was two weeks before everything started to settle back into a somewhat normal routine. Well, as normal as it could get. The rooky 9 and Gai's Team were still cautious around Naruto and Sasuke, who just got out of the hospital, was fuming. First it was about loosing his chance to go to Orochimaru and gain power, then it was about loosing to Naruto, and finally it was about loosing to a girl.

Naruto was waiting on the bridge for the rest of her team to show up. Soon she was joined by both Sakura and Sasuke, who both ignored her. But they didn't wait long. Soon Kakashi appeared in a poof and a "Yo!"

"Wow Kakashi-sensei, you're only a half an hour late, a new record" said Sakura.

"Well, that's because we have guest today to help with training" said Kakashi.

Right as he said this two more poof were heard and Anko and Jiraiya appeared on the bridge.

"Ero-sennin! Scary examiner lady! Your going to help us train?" shouted Naruto.

"Unfortunately no gaki" said Jiraiya. "I've been ordered by the council to help train Sasuke."

"And I've been ordered to teach him how to control his cure seal" said Anko in a tone of voice that showed that she did not want to be here.

"Oh" said Naruto, looking down.

'Sorry kid. I can't go against what the council ordered. They want to make sure that Sasuke doesn't feel left out and tries to defect' thought Jiraiya.

"Ok, sets get training" said Kakashi. "Sakura, you can go to Tsunade to train on your medical knowledge. Sasuke, Jiraiya, Anko, and I will train in this field."

"Kakashi-sensei, what should I do?" asked Naruto.

"Go over their and practice water walking or something" said Kakashi as he lead his group into the middle of the training field.

Hanging her head down, Naruto sighed and walked over to the stream, her hurt feeling clearly evident to Anko and Jiraiya.

Walking out onto the center of the stream perfectly she sat down on the water and began to concentrate on her chakra.

'He said work on chakra control, but I am already good with it. Wait! I have the Kyuubi's chakra too! Maybe he wants me to work on my control using that chakra.'

Focusing on the Kyuubi's chakra Naruto began to channel it around her entire body, causing her eyes to change to the crimson color with slits for pupils. It stung at first and the power of the chakra made it difficult for her to remain seated on the water, but by gradually the pain went away and she began to have more control over the chakra.

'It's starting to feel like my normal chakra, only stronger. I think I'm getting the hang of it… No wonder he said I needed beater chakra control, I can do that same things with a lot less if I use this stuff.'

Suddenly her concentration was broken by a shout "NARUTO! What are you doing!?!"

The sudden laps in concentration caused Naruto to add too much chakra to the water, causing her to shoot into the air and land on the ground.

"Ow that hurt" she said looking up and the angry face of Kakashi. "Why did you distract me!?"

"I said work on your chakra control. What were you doing calling on the Kyuubi's power?" asked a fuming Kakashi.

"Chakra control, like you said" replied Naruto looking annoyed.

This statement caused Anko to bust out laughing, "She got you their Kakashi-kun. You never specified which chakra she should work on controlling."

"That chakra is dangerous. She shouldn't be using it so carelessly. What would happen if she lost control of the Kyuubi?"

"You know, she has a point about working with that chakra" said Jiraiya. "The more she is used to it, the more she can control it. And in doing so, control the Kyuubi." Turning to Naruto he said with a smile, "Good thinking their gaki!"

This caused a smile to spread accost Naruto's face that was quickly destroyed by what Kakashi said next.

"Fine, whatever. Be careful Naruto." Turning to the others he said, "Now let's get back to our student."

This statement caused Naruto's head to fall, with her bangs covering her eyes and Anko to look at Kakashi incredulously, "You know, she is your student too. Why don't you give her some training?"

"Eh, whatever. She's fine on her own, and Sasuke is more important right now."

Hearing this Naruto got up and walked back to the stream, desperately holding her tears in.

Standing on the water she made ten kage bushi and began to spare with them. As the fight progressed she glanced over at Sasuke and his group. She saw them perform a high end wind jitsu and had him copy it with his sharingan and they gave him tips on how to perform it. Well, Kakashi and Jiraiya gave him tips. Anko just leaned against the tree looking like she wanted to be anywhere else.

This scene angered Naruto. 'He tried to defect to the enemy! And their spoiling him! Even Sakura is getting trained by the Hokage and he gets a Jonin, a Special Jonin and Jiraiya to teach him. It n**ot** **fair!**'

Unconsciously Naruto pulled on the Kyuubi's chakra and upped the notch with the three remaining clones who all drew upon the Kyuubi too. With a quick jab of both her hands Naruto sent claws of Kyuubi's chakra out at two of the clones, dispelling them. Then she meet her other clone head on in a grapple. For a few seconds they were at a deadlock then the original Naruto sent a blast of chakra that dispelled the clone and sent the water in the stream shooting out both sides, completely drenching Sasuke (the others got out of the way).

Seeing what she did, Naruto calmed down and started nervously laughing. "Sorry about that teme, I guess I put too much power in that."

"Whatever dope. It's not like that was your real strength anyways, just the power of the Kyuubi."

"Kind of like how you relied on your sharingan and curse seal all throughout our last fight. Hm? Can't stand it when someone else has something special but its fine for you to have something special now is it?"

"You'll never be stronger than me dope" said Sasuke arrogantly.

"O really. Who was it that won our last fight? That's right, it was me! I was the victor" said a fuming Naruto.

"But if it wasn't for that Gaara freak then you would be dead" said Sasuke smugly.

That comment sent Naruto over the edge. No one insults Gaara in front of her. But before she could charge she had Kakashi and Jiraiya on top of her, holing her down.

"Naruto, you're interrupting my training session. Go back to your chakra control or else" threatened Kakashi.

Seeing this predicament Sasuke smirked, which was caught by Anko. Landing in front of him she backhanded him accost the face, causing him to fall to the ground. Before he could move he was being held down by snakes from Anko's trench coat.

"What are you getting all giddy about, Uchiha?" sneered Anko. "Are you proud of the fact that you almost killed your own teammate and betrayed your country? Well, are you?" She got no response except the famous Uchiha glare/superiority look. "Don't give me that attitude boy. One more comment like that and your clan ends here" she said as on of the snaked positioned its open mouth right next to Sasuke's manhood.

"Anko that's enough. He got the point" said Kakashi, getting off of Naruto. Jiraiya also got off of Naruto but not before slipping some scrolls into the pack on her belt.

"No he didn't Kakashi. This spoiled brat didn't hear a word I said. Itachi was much more of a man then you ever will be" she said, grinning at the death glare Sasuke sent her at the mention of his brother as the level one curse seal covered his body.

Releasing him Anko looked up at the sky. "Well, time for a bath, I told you all you should need to know to control your curse seal so don't come crying to me when you lose your free will. Come on Naruto, time for some girl time."

And with that Anko left, followed closely by Naruto who glanced back at the boys.

"Well, let's get back to training. Perform that jitsu again but this time with twice as much chakra."

XxXxX

At the hot springs Anko and Naruto made their way to one of the smaller pools of water that was empty of people. Getting into the water Anko undid her towel so her front so she was exposed to the water and the air. Looking over at Naruto she noticed that the girl was clutching the towel around her and nervously looking around.

"Come on squirt. No reason to be shy. Were all girls her and it's not like your underdeveloped" Anko said, eyeing Naruto's chest.

"I-it's not that. It's just that this is my first time coming to a hot spring and I'm not used to being so exposed" replied Naruto in a nervous voice.

"Don't worry about it. Just get into the water and relax" said Anko as she leaned her head back against the side of the hot spring.

Getting into the water Naruto kept the towel wrapped around her body and leaned back so her nose was just above the water.

After a few minutes of silence Anko looked over at Naruto. Her golden blond hair was damp and no longer sticking out in every direction and her piercing blue eyes were starring at the water in front of her.

"So, how did your training go?" asked Anko conversationally.

"Good, I guess" said Naruto gloomily. "I think I can control the Kyuubi's chakra better now but I just wish I wasn't forgotten. I mean Sasuke is getting trained by Kakashi, Jiraiya, and you and Sakura is getting trained by Tsunade-obachan. I feel like they are just ignoring me, it's not fair. Kakashi never taught me anything besides the tree walking exercise and it was Jiraiya who trained me for the Chunin exams. All he does if focus on Sasuke and now Sasuke has you and Jiraiya too."

"Well, that prick is no longer being taught by me. The council wanted me to show him how to control his curse seal, which I did. Whether he listens to me is a different matter" said Anko with an edge to her voice. "And Jiraiya had no choice in the matter too. He originally was going to train you but the council ordered him to only train Sasuke."

Hearing this Naruto's face fell, "I see…"

"You did notice the scrolls he gave you, right?" asked Anko looking at the blond.

Naruto's head shot up out of the water, "What scrolls?"

"When they tackled you at the end he slipped some scrolls into your pack. My guess is that they're technique scrolls for you to work on" Anko said with a smile as she watched Naruto's face changed from a confused look to a happy grin.

Anko couldn't help but laugh, the excited look on Naruto's face was too funny to bear.

"He really gave me jitsu scrolls?" said an excited Naruto.

"That's what it looked like, gaki" said Anko with a chuckle.

XxXxX

For the rest of the week Naruto worked on learning the jitsus in the scrolls. There were two fire jitsus, a water jitsu, a defensive earth jitsu, and about a dozen wind jitsus. Also, one of the scrolls was a storage scroll that came with two metal hand fans with razor sharp edges and insulated handles to prevent the user from being electrocuted if electricity hit the metal. Inside each fan there are eight (four on each side) poisoned needles coated with a non-lethal paralyzing poison. A technique scroll also came with the fans to teach her how to use them in battle.

Naruto quickly began to master using the fans and was able to learn half the wind jitsus and one of the fire jitsus all by herself in that week. With the fans Naruto learned that she could easily control the airflow around her, not surprising really since Jiraiya told her that she was a wind nature when they were training for the chunin exams.

The final scroll contained notes on the Rasengan and how the 4th originally wanted to add elemental chakra to it. Naruto took this as a project for her to work on, finishing the Rasengan.

Only once did Kakashi ask her where she got the scrolls from and her response was that she got them from a teacher. This comeback shut up Kakashi and he left her alone for the rest of the week.

Sasuke on the other hand could be seen fuming at the ease in which Naruto was picking up techniques, while he was struggling even with the sharingan active. He nearly lost it when he saw her combine a sing attack from the fans with her fire jitsu to create a wave of blue plasma that washed over her section of the training field, burning a dozen trees to the ground and turning the ground to glass in a ten foot radius.

'How can that dope be so strong!? I must defeat her in order to kill Itachi!'

Looking over to Jiraiya he noticed that the Toad sennin was smiling at Naruto and looking impressed.

"This isn't working. Teach me something else" commanded Sasuke, bringing Jiraiya out of his revelry.

"I'm sorry, I didn't hear you. I was just admiring how your teammate was advancing so fast, with no help. Really quite amazing isn't it?" said Jiraiya in a mocking tone. Walking over to Naruto he whistled, "Damn, that was a powerful attack. Good work there Naruto. That showed skill combining the fire and wind jitsus to create an even stronger attack."

This comment brought a smile to Naruto's face and a scowl to spread further over Sasuke. But before the boy could charge or shout out something Kakashi spoke up.

"Nice attack Naruto. See you don't need my help with training" said Kakashi in his usual bored tone of voice. "Come on Jiraiya, out student requires out attention."

Sighing Jiraiya looked apologetically at Naruto before he turned back to go to Sasuke who was smirking at the disappointed look on the blonds face.

At the end of the week team seven meet at their usual spot on the bridge waiting Kakashi. Sasuke was leaning against the railing, trying to look all cool while Sakura stood next to him talking away. Naruto was on the other side of the bridge sitting down watching the water move under the bridge. After waiting an hour Kakashi finally arrived with a "Yo!"

"You're late!" screeched Sakura and Kakashi pretended to me sorry.

"Sorry I'm late, a bucket of red paint fell on me and I had to run away from an angry bull. Then of course I had to go change my cloths and while doing so I got stung by a bee and had to go to the hospital" said Kakashi in a sarcastic tone of voice.

Team seven was quiet for a few minutes before Naruto spoke up, "You're only an hour late. You should have saved that excuse for when you're three hours late."

"Right, anyway there is no training today" said Kakashi. "Today we have a C rank mission. There is a bandit camp ten miles away and we're being sent to wipe them out. Just bandits, no ninjas" said Kakashi before Sakura could say anything. "Alright, meet at the West gate in one hour. Dismissed."

XxXxX

And that's chapter four for you. Hoped you liked it and please review and tell me what you think.

Shinobi Ranks:

Genin- the weakest, the new ninjas

Chunin- the field commanders of genin, basically a ninja who is skilled enough or has served long enough to not be a genin

Jonin- the strongest Ninja in the village and the most skilled, they are in charge of teaching the genin and showing them how to be ninjas

Special Jonin- same skill level as regular Jonin except that for one reason or another they do not take genin students (whether they are too specialized or they have issues)

Anbu- the special forces of the Ninja world. Includes Hunter-nin in this group and are of equal strength to the Jonin level.

Kage- the strongest ninja in the village and the leader of the entire village.


	5. Chapter 5

Deceiving Appearance

Disclaimer- What made you think that I own this?

I know my shinobi rankings don't fit with the cannon rankings, but for this fic that is the strength/ranking of the shinobi. I know ANBU is supposed to be the best but this fic they are just the Special Forces, so the Jonin can choose whether or not to join them and it doesn't mean that the ANBU are automatically better than a Jonin, but they usually are.

"Speaking"

'Thought'

"**Demon/jutsus**"

XxXxX

Team Seven assembled at the western gate, decked out in all their combat gear. Sakura was still wearing her cloths from the chunin exams except she had a small scroll attached to her belt and it was hanging on her back. Naruto was dressed in her normal burnt orange battle kimono and shorts. And Sasuke was dressed the same way he was dressed when he tried to run away except that he added wrist and ankle guards.

They stood there in silence for a few minuets, checking over their equipment and waiting for Kakashi to arrive. After a few minuets of waiting Kakashi appeared before them in a swirl of leafs.

Looking over his assembled team he asked, "You got everything?" Getting a course of "Yes" and heads nodding he said, "Good, then let's get going. I'll explain along the way what our plan of attack is."

Quickly they jumped into the trees and began to make their way to the location of the bandit camp in silence.

After about an hour of traveling, Kakashi called the group to halt with a hand single and jumped down from the tree he was in.

"Ok, the bandit camp is right up there" Kakashi said gesturing to the direction they were going. "It is broken up into four parts. Three satellite scout camps and the center camp. I will take the center, Sakura, you take the satellite to the right, Sasuke, to the left, and Naruto, take the satellite on the other side of the camp. They have radios so we can't communicate with ours until after we attack. Understood?" Seeing his team nod their heads he said, "Alright, we attack in fifteen minutes, begin your attacks when I do. Get ready and don't let any of them get away. Dismissed"

With that, Team Seven leaped into the trees to head to their assigned positions to being the attack.

They were in position and awaiting Kakashi to begin the attack. Sasuke put some wire traps down to take care of anyone running away, Sakura placed a mild genjutsu on the forest to confuse anyone running away, and Naruto made a couple dozen clones that were hiding in the forest.

Kakashi was just about to attack when he sensed three chakra signatures approaching him. Getting on his guard he noticed that they were a three man chunin squad from Konoha.

Singling them to his position he asked, "What are you doing here? We are about to commence with an operation."

"Squad 22, we were sent to help. A report just came in, there are Oto nin aiding the bandits, most likely Chunin from what we could gather" said one of the chunin.

"Ok, split up and aid my team when I begin the attack-" Kakashi was saying but he was interrupted by an explosion to his left.

"Damn it! They attacked without my signal!" Looking at the chunin Kakashi said, "Attack and aid my team were you can!" he said as he let fly a dozen kunai with explosive tags.

_With Sasuke_

'What's taking him so long? It's been fifteen minutes already!'

Gritting his teeth he glanced he waited for a minute before checking the time again.

'Now it's been at least sixteen minutes! Screw this I'm going for it'

With that thought he leapt into the air and cried out "**Grand Fireball no Jutsu!**" as he sent a massive fireball into the center of the camp, causing and explosion and lighting the aria on fire.

_With Naruto_

Naruto was waiting for Kakashi's signal when she hears the explosion go off.

'That's it! Alright here we go!' she thought as she and her clones jumped into action.

A wave of clones charged into the camp and began to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the bandits as the original Naruto and a couple of closes unleashed**Air Bullet no Jutsu,** sending blast of air that ripped through tents and broke the bones of any bandit they hit and sending dirt flying up into the air. Then she let out her hidden poison needles in her fans, hitting three bandits and bringing them down.

But as the battle progressed she heard a high pitch whistle and a blast of air and sound collided with her and a large group of her clones, causing them to dispel.

Quickly shaking off the ringing in her ears, Naruto looked up to see that there were two Oto nins and over two dozen bandits surrounding her.

Gritting her teeth, Naruto let out a gust of razor sharp winds from her fans causing the shinobi and bandits to scatter and killing at least two bandits. Quickly forming her hands into the cross shape seal she cried "**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!**" creating over a dozen clones that rushed forward to keep her opponents occupied.

Meanwhile Naruto and five of her clones jumped into the air over the camp and the clones formed a circle around the original. The clones began to go through the hand seals for Flame Stream no Jutsu and prepared to add a wind attack to it with their fans to create Blue Flame no Jutsu while the original did the hand seals for Air Stream no Jutsu.

Unleashing all their attacks at the same time, Naruto cried out, "**Uzumaki Flower no Jutsu!**"

The combined fire/wind attacks from each clone created a stream of blue plasma that hit the ground and when the direction the clone was facing. This was then strengthened by the added wind attack from the original Naruto, causing it plasma to wash over the entire area and everyone in it.

_With the others_

The rest of Team Seven and the three Chunins were fighting with the bandits (Kakashi already took out one Oto nin and so did Sasuke) when the entire forest where Naruto was burst into fire and ash as blue plasma hit some of the surrounding bandits in the back, burning through them and turning their skin into ash.

Using this distraction to their advantage the Konoha nins were able to quickly finish off the few remaining bandits that weren't hit by the plasma.

Moving towards were Naruto was the shinobi were quickly forced covered their mouths to prevent them from inhaling the ash in the air.

The ground for a 100 foot radius around the center was a sheet of glass. Here and there the brut stumps of trees, melted weapons, and a few blackened bones could be seen sticking out of the glass. But most of what got hit by the blast was either melted into the glass on the ground or was in the air as ash.

Reaching the center they found Naruto standing there, her cloths were burnt and she was covered in soot. Her body was surrounded by a faint red light that soon vanished as they moved closer. Flicking her fans and snapping them shut she created two swirls in the ash cloud that surrounded her, moving outwards till they dissipated a foot from where they started. The three chunins and Sakura surveyed the destruction with fear and awe while Sasuke began to brood about Naruto's strength.

Looking up at Kakashi Naruto said, "I thought that there weren't supposed to be any ninja's here?"

"There was a miss communication, that's why these guys are here" said Kakashi gesturing to the three stunned Chunins behind him. "Just out of curiosity, how many Oto nins were there here before you decided to torch and glass half the forest?"

Glaring at Kakashi Naruto replied, "There were two sound nins and over two dozen bandits. If this was satellite camp I would hate to see the size of the main camp" she said with a slight edge to her tone of voice.

"Must have been because of the earlier miscommunication, it sounds like you got the largest camp. Well, no matter. Everyone is fine and the bandits are dead, that's all that matters" said Kakashi in a nonchalant tone of voice. "Well no point in waiting around here. Let's return home."

XxXxX

The return trip was just as quiet as the trip going to the camp, but for a different reason. Now everyone was tired of thinking about what happened at the camp instead of mentally preparing for the battle ahead.

Naruto was tired, her fight took a lot out of her and she just wanted to take a shower and go to bed. Sakura was still coming down from the shock of actually killing someone and seeing Naruto cause so much destruction. The three chunins were also lost in thought at the shear destructive force that Naruto unleashed on the camp. Sasuke was brooding about Naruto's strength and Kakashi was mentally going over the report that he will make to the Hokage.

He was not happy. First his team is almost sent on a suicide mission because of a lack of proper intel on the camp and second, all the ninjas there almost got fried by the jutsu that Naruto unleashed. Sure she was up against overwhelming numbers, but that was no excuse to loose control like that. And third he was pissed because Sasuke jumped the gun on the attack and almost had the entire team run strait into a slaughter.

Reaching the gates to Konoha, they stopped briefly to show their IDs to the guards.

"Team Seven and Squad 22 reporting back from mission" said Kakashi, showing his ID to the guards.

"Ok, go right in. Hokage-sama want's you to make your report right away" said one of the guards, noticing how everyone was covered in ash and that wisps of smoke could still be seen coming off on Naruto's burnt clothes.

Passing through the village, they drew the attention of more than a few pedestrians due to their disheveled and dirty appearance. At the Hokage's tower they quickly made their way up to Tsunade's office. Knocking on the door they heard an "Enter!" and stepped into the room.

"Team Seven and Squad 22 reporting from bandit extermination mission, C ranked mission, bumped up to a B ranked" said Kakashi as he stood in front of Tsunade.

"Report" she said, raising an eyebrow at their appearance.

"The Bandits were being added by four Oto shinobi, Chunin rank and the camp layout and strength location was different than what our scouts originally reported. Team Seven was just about to attack when Squad 22 made contact with me. From them I learned about the information oversight, but before this information could be given to the rest of the team, Sasuke jumped the ball and attacked without orders. This caused the rest of us to launch our attacks to keep the element of surprise. I took down one Oto nin and so did Sasuke. The remaining two Oto nins and a good portion of all the bandits were taken out by Naruto as she unleashed a massive attack that not only took out the bandits and Oto nins but also endangered the rest of us as well" said Kakashi looking at Tsunade with a blank face.

"Squad 22, do you have anything to add?" she asked.

"No, we concur with Kakashi-san's report. I would like to make a comment about the attack Naruto made." Seeing Tsunade nod her head he continued, "It was a skilled attack combining both fire and wind attacks. It caused an area in a 100 foot radius to be burnt to ash and the ground turned to glass. I have never seen an attack like it. To think that a genin wields this power is, to say the least, incredible and a little unnerving" he said glancing at Naruto and her whisker marks.

"Thank you, Squad 22, you may leave. Report back tomorrow for your next mission" said Tsunade with a smile.

Looking at Sasuke Tsunade said in a stern voice, "Is there any reason why you did not wait for your team leader to begin the attack? Do you realize that your brash actions could have caused the death of your entire team? Well, answer me!"

Giving the Hokage the usual Uchiha smirk Sasuke said, "When Kakashi-sensei didn't attack when we planed I didn't know if something happened to him or what. So instead of waiting I decided to go with the attack."

"Listen here, wipe that smirk off your face. I'm docking you of your mission pay as a penalty for your insubordination. You should have waited an extra fifteen minutes like protocol dictates and then gone looking for your team leader if he didn't attack on time, not going ahead with the attack on your own!" said Tsunade with a furious expression on her face. "And Naruto" she said turning to the blond. "That attack you used was dangerous and could have killed your teammates, why did you use it?"

"I was surrounded by two Oto shinobi and at least two dozen bandits. I felt that a mass effect jutsu like that would be the most efficient and killing all the immediate enemies around me and taking out the others near by. It's the fist time I ever did that combination, so I might have put a little too much wind into it to increase the potency of the plasma" she said, rubbing the back of her head.

"I'll say" said Sakura brushing some of the ash off her dress.

"That's elemental manipulation you did and you combined two elements together. Did Kakashi-san teach you that?" asked Tsunade glancing at Kakashi.

"Ano, no" said Naruto, looking down. "I was experimenting with the winds from my fans and my fire jutsu when I discovered I could turn the flames into a stream of plasma by adding a lot of wind and chakra to it. I honestly didn't mean to almost kill everyone, honest!" she said looking nervous.

"It's ok Naruto. But that is a Jonin level skill there. It's a good thing we're in a war, with Sound right now" said Tsunade, reaching under her desk.

This comment confused everyone in the room and Sakura was the one who voiced it, "Ano, Tsunade-sensei, what do you mean? How is that a good thing?"

"Because due to the state of war, I can promote a person based on their skills, not being dependent on the chunin and jonin exams" said Tsunade with a smile as she stood up from her desk. "Naruto, due to your skills I hear-by permute you to the level of chunin. Come back tomorrow to receive you first mission, and congratulations" she said handing the stunned Naruto the green Chunin vest.

A tear fell down Naruto's cheek as she looked up at Tsunade, "T-Thank-you!" she said in a stunned voice.

Still smiling, Tsunade dismissed them from her office, noticing how Sasuke seamed to be trying to boar holes into Naruto's back with his death glare.

Leaving the office they quickly separated. Kakashi told Sasuke and Sakura to meet at the training field as usual while Naruto made her way back to her house stunned.

XxXxX

Quickly word spread around the village that the 'demon brat' was promoted to chunin when the last Uchiha wasn't and they were pissed, but when they heard about the destructive power she unleashed they couldn't help but feel a little scared of her.

Sitting in her apartment, Naruto was still in a state of shock. She had taken a shower and was now sitting in her old orange pants and a black t-shirt when she heard a knock on her door. Getting up and looking trough the eyehole, Naruto saw that Anko was standing out side her door.

Opening the door with a confused look on her face Naruto let Anko in and asked, "Ano, Anko-san. Why are you here?"

Smiling at the girl Anko said, "I'm here to congratulate you on your promotion! News of it has already spread throughout the village. I bet that Uchiha-teme was pissed that you got promoted, wasn't he? Ha, I hope he was! I swear he has a stick shoved a foot up his ass" she said shaking her head and smiling evilly.

Looking back at Naruto Anko took in her appearance. "Come on, you need new clothes. Can't be wearing the same things you wore when you were a genin now can you?" she said with a smile.

Before Naruto could even protest she was dragged out of her apartment and whisked away to the shopping district.

Walking into a clothing store, Anko had Naruto try on many different outfits that fit with chunin regulations on dress, ranging from the standard chunin cloths, to a fishnet similar to what Anko wears. In the end Naruto settled on a one piece black suit that was made of a spandex like material that will offer her some protection while at the same time keep her both warm and cool depending on the temperature outside. The material is also water proof and gives the user some protection from fire. Naruto learned from the store owner that the material comes from the Land of Wind and that many of the Suna nins clothes are made out of it. That's how shinobi like Kankuro can wear cloths that are all black in the desert without dieing of sunstroke.

The entire suit was black and it went down to her feet on her legs and was sleeveless. The collar was high so her neck will have some protection and there was a built in mask (like Kakashi's) that could be pulled up to cover the bottom half of her face. It also had a chakra zipper on the back that was barely visible to allow her to get in and out of it. Chakra zippers differ from a regular zipper in that they seal and unseal when you slide your fingers down it while their coated in chakra. They aren't susceptible to jams, they don't usually open accidentally, they let in less air and foreign materials, and they are almost seamless in their seals when compared to regular zippers.

The cloths fit tight against her body, but not too tight to look like it was pained onto her. Just tight enough to allow her full range of movement and to show off her curves. Also, because the clothes were tight on her, Naruto didn't put on underwear or a braw under it. She got two pairs of the standard shinobi sandals in black and she also got a pair of dark orange fingerless gloves that extended up to her elbow and had built in harden knuckles and padding for her hands. The outfit also came with a belt to hold her gear and a protected pouch for a scroll on the back.

Getting five of the suits, Naruto quickly changed into it and attached her gear to it. She put her kunai holster on her right leg, had two pouches of gear on her belt and her storage scroll in protected pouch on the back of her belt. Her fans were attached to a special built in holsters on her gloves that would allow her to carry them unnoticed, and pull them out with a flick of the wrist. Naruto also placed two small knifes in her sandals and put her dark green chunin's vest on with her head band on her head.

Stepping out of the dressing room, Anko looked over Naruto's choice of clothing.

"Well, it's not what I would wear, but it defiantly gets the job done." Laughing she said, "Just couldn't give up on the orange, eh? Ha, no matter. Now, lets go eat!" as Anko pulled Naruto from the store and into the street.

"Anko-san, ano, why are you doing this? I mean, I'm really appreciative and everything, it's just that why are you helping me like this?" asked Naruto as the exited the store.

Sighing, Anko looked at Naruto, "It's because, well, I can understand you. Both of us are disliked by the village for something we couldn't control and such. Also, you're such a nice kid and all I couldn't help but feel sisterly" said Anko making a confused faced that caused Naruto to laugh. "Enough of this serious talk lets go eat. I'll introduce you to a bunch of other Special Jonins since that is most likely were you will end up next."

"Why do you say that?" asked Naruto confused.

"Because Special Jonins is rank given for Jonins who are overly skilled in a specific area or for some reason will not be a good Jonin-sensei. Me because of who my teacher was and you because of the Kyuubi. The council wouldn't want you teaching the next generation of shinobi for a while, until they are positive that you can control the fox" said Anko sternly. "But cheer up! All Special Jonins get a trench coat along with the vest as part of their uniform! Yosh! Here we are!" she said with a smile.

Walking into the bar, Anko lead Naruto over to a table at the far side of the room. There sate Ibuki, another Special Jonin, and one of the chunin from Squad 22.

"Hey guys! Like you to meet my friend and the next likely candidate for the rank of Special Jonin, she just got promoted to the rank of chunin today. Naruto-chan this is Ibuki-san, Jericho-san (the other Special Jonin), and Daiki-san (a chunin from Squad 22). Ibuki-san, as you know, is in charge of the torture and interrogation department, Jericho-kun specializes in moving underground using the head hunter no jutsu, the guy is a mole I swear it, and Daiki-kun is specialist in tracking people based on their chakra signatures, a powerful ability, but he is still a chunin" said Anko, pointing to each person at the table as she introduced them. "And guys, this is Naruto-chan!"

"I remember you from the exam. Could have sworn you were a boy" said Ibuki shaking his head laughing but in reality he knew about the situation behind Naruto being a girl since the law about the Kyuubi was lifted.

Naruto and Jericho shook hands and Daiki said, "So, Hokage-sama promoted you. Well, after the power of that attack, I wouldn't be surprised."

Seeing that everyone's attention focused on Naruto, expecting details she conceded defeat, "I unleashed a wave of plasma that leveled a100 foot radius aria, killing two Oto nins and over two dozen bandits.

"Stop being so modest, it had to be around four dozen bandits that you took out with that attack" said Daiki smiling.

"Seriously?" asked an impressed Jericho giving out a whistle.

"Yes" said a blushing Naruto, not use to the praise of the people around her.

Seeing her discomfort, Anko came to the rescue, "Hey, hey that's enough. Were here to drink and celebrate Naruto's promotion! Now accordance with tradition, we must get you pissed drunk so, WAITER, MORE SAKE!"

XxXxX

The good thing about being the container of the Kyuubi, or a bad thing depending the way you look at it, is that Naruto can't get drunk. After a full night of drinking and eating Naruto and Ibuki were the only sober ones and even Ibuki was slightly tipsy.

Leaving the bar at three in the morning Naruto dragged Anko back to her place because she doesn't know were she lives and went to bed.

In the following morning Naruto took a shower, got dressed, and began to make some eggs for breakfast. As the eggs were cooking, Naruto pulled out some smelling salts and held them under Anko's nose. This action of forcing the sleeping snake mistress awake got Naruto a punch to the head as Anko sat up and looked around.

"Where am I?" she asked groggily then she noticed Naruto nursing her newly required head injury.

"You passed out at the bar and I brought you to my place you craze drunk. Ouch! Did you have to his so hard?" said Naruto still rubbing her head as she began to dish out the cooked eggs. "Whatever, anyway breakfast is ready so if you want some, come and get it."

At the words breakfast, Anko got up from the couch and went to the small kitchen table. "Thank-you Naruto-chan!" Anko said as she dug into her food.

Soon the two were finished with their food and after cleaning up left the apartment, Naruto heading to the Hokage's tower while Anko whet home to change.

Arriving at the Tsunade's office Naruto was greeted with a raised eyebrow from Tsunade.

"Not the usual dress, but within the acceptable range. It's good you feel comfortable showing off your figure, now if we could only get you to show more skin" asked Tsunade in an amused tone of voice.

"Nope!" replied the smiling Naruto. "So oba-chan, do you have a mission for me?"

"Brat, how bout as appreciation for the headache I when through with the council about your promotion you could stop calling me that?" said Tsunade in a hopeful tone of voice.

"Only if you drop that genjutsu" replied Naruto.

Sighing, Tsunade brought out a bottle of sake and took a long swig from it.

"Here's a mission I know you will like" said Tsunade smiling while pulling out a storage scroll and two message scrolls. "Take these scrolls to the Kazekage."

XxXxX

**Blue Flame no Jutsu**- By combining Flame Steam no Jutsu and wind from her fans Naruto can create a stream of blue plasma- chakra intensive.

**Flame Stream no Jutsu **- A basic flame jutsu that creates a stream of flames, the more chakra you use, the larger it is.

**Air Stream no Jutsu**- Same thing as Flame Steam no Jutsu except that if causes a stream of air instead of flames.

**Uzumaki Flower no Jutsu **- By combining Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, Blue Flame no Jutsu, and Air Steam no Jutsu this creates a massive wave of blue plasma that washes over an entire area in as many directions as there are clones. From above this would look like a blue flower is blooming as the plasma spreads outwards- heavily chakra intensive.

The plasma is created by not only mixing the air and fire attacks together, but by also compressing the air and fire so the temperature increases exponentially, while the area affected remains the same. This causes the super heated gasses that make up the air to become plasma, which has characteristics of both fire (the way it burns) and water (the way it flows). Normally when fire and air attacks are mixed they just increase the flames of the fire attack or will blow the fire attack out. But because Naruto is manipulating both the fire and air elements, she is able to control the quantity, air flow, and temperature to make plasma. It is because of this skill in elemental manipulation that Tsunade decided that Naruto was of sufficient skill to be promoted directly to chunin, without the chunin exam. Naruto still needs to work on this skill, right now she just pumps a lot of chakra into the attack to get the desired effect while if she increased her skills in elemental manipulation, she could get the same results with half as much chakra.

Don't worry, next chapter will have lots of NaruGaara goodness to go around.

Ja Ne!


	6. Chapter 6

Deceiving Appearance

Disclaimer- I don't own this, ok?

"Speaking"

'Thought'

"**Demon/jutsus**"

XxXxX

Naruto was running through the forest, going in the direction of Suna. Her mission was supposed to last eight days. Three days getting to Suna, two days there, and three days getting back. She was allotted two extra days in case of unforeseen problems, but if she didn't return by then she would be marked as MIA.

She was currently holding on to three communication scrolls that Tsunade wanted delivered to the current leader of Suna. Because their last Kazikage was killed, Suna was currently being run by the council, unless they already chose a new leader by the time Naruto arrived.

By the end of the first day, Naruto made it to the end of the forest and was greeted by the prairie of the land that separated the Land of Fire from the Land of Wind.

That night Naruto made camp just inside the forest and created a few Kage Bunshin to stand guard while she slept.

By mid morning the next day, Naruto made it to the border of the Land of Wind and was able to cross it without incident, having to just show her papers to a Suna shinobi patrol when they stopped her as she crossed the border.

At noon Naruto came to the end of the prairie and entered the desert that made up much of the Land of Wind. The sun was hot and beating down on face, but Naruto was unaffected by it. She had always liked the heat and could handle the desert sun glaring down on her unprotected face. Maybe it was because of the Kyuubi, but Naruto could handle the heat beater than most people and actually enjoyed it.

Traveling nonstop for the next day and half, Naruto was able to reach the gates of Suna as the sun began to set in the horizon, painting the sky a beautiful crimson red color.

Reaching the gates Naruto quickly performed the Refresh no Jutsu to remove the grim that she built up while traveling through the desert. Walking up to the gate guard she showed her passport and her mission papers to the guards before being allowed to enter the village.

It was getting late, so Naruto set up an appointment for 10:00 am to meet with the current leader of the village and deliver her message.

After setting up her appointment Naruto made her way to market district in hopes of getting a meal before she found a place to stay the night. Looking around Naruto was slightly disappointed that there was no ramen stands around. While she liked it, she wasn't as obsessed with the noodles as most people seam to believe. She did eat healthy…sometimes.

Getting over her disappointment for the lack of ramen, Naruto began to look at the other restarts to see if there was something else that looked good. However, during her search she noticed the familiar cat ear hood of Kankuro walking away from her.

Naruto was tempted to run up and say "Hi!" but she stopped herself. One, she and Kankuro weren't that close to one another, two, it looked like he might be on a date, and three, Naruto was tired, too tired to meet up with friends.

Turning away, Naruto walked into a local tavern and ordered a local dish called Grilled Orochimaru with a glass of water. Apparently the people of Suna were more vindictive about Orochimaru then the people of Konoha. When the dish was brought to her it ended up being that the dish was just grilled snake with some spices and a knife sticking in its head. All and all, not bad and Naruto would defiantly remember this place.

Paying her bill and leaving a tip, Naruto made her way to the hotel where visiting diplomats and messengers stay. Getting her room key, Naruto made her way up to the room and began preparing for the night.

The first thing she did was take a shower. While Refresh no Jutsu gets a person clean, it just doesn't have that same feeling that actually cleaning your body with soap and water gets you.

Stepping out of the shower with a towel wrapped around her body, Naruto made her way to where her cloths were. The outfit she wore today was still clean from the jutsu, but Naruto decided against wearing it again.

'Better where something fresh to meet with the leader tomorrow' she thought as she pulled out her storage scroll. Quickly she unsealed a new black suit and sealed her old one away.

Laying it out on the chair in the room, Naruto then looked over her gear and the message scrolls. Seeing that everything was in place and clean, Naruto put over with the rest of her cloths.

Lastly Naruto grabbed her head band from her pile of cloths and gear. Removing her town and sitting on the bed naked, Naruto began using her towel to clean and polish the mettle plate on the headband. After a couple minutes of work she was satisfied that it looked presentable.

Carefully folding up the cloth on it, Naruto placed her head band with the rest of her gear and put her used towel in the wash basket.

Climbing into bed naked, Naruto set the alarm clock for 8:30 and got under the covers. Soon she was sound asleep and the room was filled with the sounds of her gently breathing.

The next day, Naruto was awaked as the light began to steam into the room. Looking at the clock she noted that it read 8:05 am, almost half an hour before she wanted it to go off.

Throwing the covers over her head, Naruto tried to get some more sleep, but couldn't. Giving off a frustrated growl, Naruto shut off the alarm clock and got out of bed.

Walking into the bathroom Naruto began washed up. Taking her comb Naruto tried to tame her wild hair, but only managed to flatten it a little. Giving up she threw her brush away and finished washing up.

When she was finished, Naruto ran her finger accost her chest where Sasuke stick his Chidori through her. Not even a faint scar remained from the wound that would have killed any other person.

Collecting her bathroom supplies, Naruto exited and resealed them in her scroll. Quickly getting dressed she glanced over at the clock. Seeing that it read 8:45 am Naruto decided she had time for a decent breakfast.

Going downstairs, Naruto went to the complimentary buffet that the hotel offered for breakfast for its visitors. Grabbing some fruit and eggs Naruto began to eat as she observed the other guests.

Two chunins from Iwa sat to her right and a team from Kusa on her left. The Kusa shinobi ignored her, while the Iwa shinobi looked at her from the corner of their eyes.

Relations between Konoha and Iwa were always tense, and after the third great shinobi war with the Yellow Flash, those tensions remained strong. But in the world of shinobi it was foolish to hold a grudge for long and slowly the relations between the two countries was improving. After all, today's enemy may be tomorrow's best friend.

Finishing her meal, Naruto made her way to the Kazekage's tower. She was early so she had to wait in the waiting area before her appointment time came. Sitting down in a chair, Naruto eyed the only other person in the room, another Iwa shinobi, jonin this time.

Deciding to try to break the deathly silence that filled the room Naruto spoke, "I just saw two other Iwa shinobi eating breakfast at the hotel. Are they with you?"

The Iwa shinobi huffed. He was a big man in his late teens or early twenties and was wearing the standard Iwa jonin outfit with spikes attached to the shoulders and brass knuckle gloves.

"Yea, those guys are my team. You said you only saw two?" he asked Naruto nodded her head, "That means the other one is probably still asleep, lazy bastard."

"Names Kon, you?"

"Naruto" said Naruto, but before they could continue their conversation the secretary called over to Kon and said that he could go in now.

Naruto waited for twenty minutes before the secretary said that she could go in.

Once she was ushered into the office, Naruto greeted the man behind the desk with a bow.

"Greetings Kazekage-sama" said Naruto as she placed the scrolls on the desk.

"Hokage-sama wished for these to be delivered to you and for me to return with a response as soon as possible" said Naruto in a respectful tone of voice.

"Right, I understand. You will have your response by noon tomorrow. But you really must know" said the man with a slight smile, "I'm not the Kazekage. I'm just the council leader. Unlike the Hokage, the position of Kazekage is both based on power and it's hereditary. Currently we are debating between Gaara and Temari for the position. I trust this shouldn't affect our two nations' relations if one of them takes over?"

"Not at all sir. Temari and Gaara are both known and respected by the shinobi of Konoha, despite their involvement in the invasion attempt" said Naruto crisply. "But don't take my word for it. If you are troubled by it you could always ask Hokage-sama it in your reply message, I'm sure she can give you a more…politically correct answer."

"That's ok. I was just testing to see what a normal Konoha shinobi's reaction would be. There's no need to go to the Hokage about this."

With that, the meeting was over and Naruto left the office with a bow.

Leaving the Kazikage tower Naruto looked up to see what time it was. Seeing how it was around 10:30 am, Naruto decided to walk around the village before he went to get lunch. Being from another nation and there is no chunin exams going on, there were some areas that were off limits to Naruto. The only places she could go were the visitor training ground, the park, the market/shopping district, and the residential areas. Everywhere else was restricted and it would cause an international incident if she tried to go there and she had to be careful in the areas she could go into.

Deciding to go to the park and relax a little Naruto headed off to her right.

Sitting down on a bench, Naruto watched as people moved around the park and she pulled out a phone directory. Looking through the list of names, Naruto finally came across the name she was looking for.

Going to the nearest telephone Naruto dialed the number and let the phone ring. But unfortunately for her the person never answered and soon Naruto was at the voice-mail.

"Hey Gaara-kun, its Naruto. Just letting you know that I'm in Suna right now for the rest of the day and till noon tomorrow. Thought we might get together, but if you're out on a mission right now don't feel bad. I'm staying at the Ambassador Hotel, room 301. Jan ne!"

Hanging up the phone, Naruto stuck out her lower lip in a pout. She had wanted to see Gaara during her visit, but it looked like that wasn't going to happen.

Turning around Naruto let out a surprised yelp flew into the arms of the man before her.

"Gaara-kun! I just called your house and left a message-" started Naruto but she was cut off by Gaara.

"I know I walked in as you were recording the message and I came out right away" said Gaara.

"But how did you get here so fast, and know were I was to begin with?" asked a confused Naruto.

Gaara simply pointed to the house accost the street, "That's my house and I saw you from the window."

This answer brought a fox-like grin to Naruto's face and she rubbed the back of her head, "Hehe, my bad."

"So, Naruto-chan, what brings you to Suna?" asked Gaara.

"Just to deliver some scrolls for oba-chan to your current leader and bring the reply back to Konoha. But enough about that, I can't believe it! You're in the running to become the next Kazikage! That's great! Are you excited? Nervous? Think you'll get the job? What do you plan to do in office?" rattled off an excited blond.

"Naruto-chan, calm down. And to answer your questions: yes, no, yes, and reform the shinobi academy" said Gaara in a monotone voice.

"You know," said Naruto, holding her chin and looking at Gaara, "You don't look that excited. But I will blame that on your lack of eyebrows, you cute little eye-brow-less raccoon you!" said Naruto in a babying tone of voice as she ran her fingers over were Gaara's eyebrows should have been.

Trying to hide a faint blush Gaara batted her hands away, which brought on a smile from Naruto. "So, why aren't you nervous?"

"Simple, I'm stronger than Temari, she doesn't want the job, and the villagers are really starting to warm up to me, especially the younger generations. Best of all, I haven't killed anyone on over half a year, thanks to you" said Gaara, bringing a blush from Naruto.

"Yea, hard to believe the chunin exams final was only six months ago. It seams like so much has happened since then. You got a growth sprit, for starters" said Naruto giggling.

"Laugh it up. I out grew all my cloths practically over night. That was not a pleasant experience in the morning, I almost got stuck in my shirt" muttered Gaara bringing more laughter from Naruto.

By now, people in the streets have stopped to take notice of what was going on. Gaara was talking and smiling? And to a girl who was also smiling and laughing? Was this an illusion? Did they eat too many special brownies from the bakery? Or did the former terror of Suna truly turn over a new leaf, a fitting acronym since he was talking to a Konoha kunoichi.

XxXxX

At noon Gaara and Naruto meet up with Temari and Kankuro and the four of them had lunch together.

Temari and Naruto, both being tom-boys instead of talking about different fan based attacks while Kankuro picked on Gaara mercilessly saying it was his "brotherly duty."

After lunch the four of them went over to a training ground to spar. Because she was accompanied by local shinobi, Naruto was able to go onto one to the Suna-nin training grounds that are usually off limits to visitors.

First to go was Temari and Gaara. Gaara stayed in the same spot for most of the match while Temari dogged his sand and sent waves of wind at him. At one point Temari was able to beak through his sand shield and send Gaara flying accost the training ground. Seeing this as her chance to win, Temari leaped into the air, preparing to bring her fan down on her brother's prone form.

Unfortunately for her, by jumping into the air she left herself open for attack and soon found herself wrapped up in Gaara's sand. Letting out a sigh, Temari surrendered and their match came to an end.

Next it was Kankuro and Naruto's turn to fight. Naruto got into basic stance with her hand's poised to call out her fans at a moments notice while Kankuro got his puppet out and stood behind it and to the right.

Quickly Naruto began to think over strategies for how to win. 'Ok, he's a puppet master. The first rule of fighting one is to fight the puppeteer, not the puppet. So I have to attack him. Wait! That's it!'

Smiling Naruto deepened the couch she was is and leaped at Kankuro when Temari shouted, "Begin!"

Running low, Naruto jumped into the air and brought an ax kick strait down on the puppets head while sending a bust of wind with her fans at Kankuro, knocking him back.

Kneeling on top of the puppet Naruto brought the razor sharp edge of the fan to the puppets neck and smiled, "Surrender Kankuro, I have you pined."

With a poof of smoke the puppet under Naruto turned into Kankuro and the other Kankuro reverted back into being a puppet.

"You got me. I really wasn't expecting you to see through that trick, damn" said Kankuro with a smile.

Holding out her hand, Naruto helped Kankuro up and he walked over to the sidelines as Gaara stepped out onto the field.

"Ok, nothing too big here, just a small spar. No summoning, no transformations, and no demonic chakra, ok? Good, BEGIN!" she called out as she leaped back.

Immediately Naruto bought her hands up to the familiar cross seal, "**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!**" and created fifty clones that sounded Gaara. Then all the clones leaped at Gaara as the boy tensed up, waiting for the attack. But what happened was something he wasn't expecting.

While in the air every single Naruto performed the Sexy no Jutsu, transforming into an older, naked version of Naruto. Blood started to trickle from Gaara's nose and he lost all focus he had before, just trying not to pass out or drool as the mass of naked Narutos closed in on him.

To make matters worse for Gaara, his sand decided to not come up and shield him like usual. This allowed the mass of Narutos to begin to cling to Gaara and began to rub against him, turning the boy red all over.

Smiling all the clones dispersed at the same time leaving the original Naruto, fully clothed, and standing in front of Gaara with her hands in the ram seal.

Looking down on himself Gaara saw that he was coved from head to foot in explosive notes and Naruto could set them off at any time. Glaring he said, "That was a cheap move Naruto."

"Yes it was, but you know you loved it. Don't deny it. You loved the way I rubbed against you body" said a smiling Naruto. "In fact, it looks like you still enjoy it."

"Shut up," muttered Gaara. "Fine, I surrender. Now get these tags off of me!"

"No need" said Naruto with a foxy grin as the tags disappeared in a puff of smoke. "They were just my Kage Bunshin transformed."

Walking over to where a laughing Temari and Kankuro where Gaara glared at them while Kankuro laughed out, "I can't believe you actually did that Naruto! Hahaha! To make Gaara surrender so easily and in such a fashion too, it's priceless."

"Brother, if you ever want to have kids I suggest that you shut up" glared Gaara.

Paling, Kankuro instantly shut up, but the mirth in his eyes at what happened was still there.

Waving good-bye Temari and Kankuro departed for home while Gaara and Naruto remained at the training ground where they did some light sparing and training together.

Looking up at the setting sun, Gaara said, "It's getting late. How about we go get something to eat?"

"Sure, but first let me get changed. These cloths are dirty and I am all sweaty" said Naruto.

"Ok, I'll meet you at your hotel room in an hour" said Gaara as the two departed.

Racing back to her hotel room, Naruto quickly pealed herself out of her cloths and jumped into the shower.

After scrubbing all the dirt and grime off herself, Naruto exited the shower and warped a towel around her self. Going back to the main room Naruto was just about to start getting dressed when a knock was heard on her door.

Brandishing a kunai, Naruto went to the door and looked through the peep hole. There standing outside was Gaara in red dress shirt and black pants.

Surprised Naruto glanced back at the clock. It had only been half an hour, so why was Gaara here already?

Opening the door she confronted the red head on the doorstep.

"Gaara-kun, you're early…way early. Is something wrong?" asked Naruto.

"N-no nothings wrong. I just came to make sure you had some nicer clothing to wear. I forgot about a reservation I had earlier to a nice restaurant and I decided to take you there" said Gaara with a slight blush as he looked at the still wet Naruto wearing nothing but a towel.

"Yea I do, thanks for telling me, though." Opening the door all the way, she continued, "If you just wait on the bed I'll be right out."

Grabbing a storage scroll, Naruto walked back into the bathroom.

Sitting on the bed Gaara waited for ten minutes before Naruto came out of the bathroom. She was wearing a red short sleeve kimono with a white trim and a black obi that went down to just past her knees.

Looking apologetic Naruto said, "Sorry, this is the only formal attire I have and I don't have any make-up."

"It looks great, there is nothing you need to apologies about" said Gaara with a sincere smile that brought a blush to Naruto's face.

Smiling both of them made their way out of the hotel room and to the restaurant.

XxXxX

The restaurant they ate at wasn't the fanciest, but it was very nice. They were seated without a problem and ate their meals quietly, exchanging some small talk about how things have been for each other since they last saw each other.

Naruto was happy that Gaara was beginning to become accepted by the people of Suna and that he finally had control over his bloodlust while Gaara was upset by the lack of friends and support Naruto had in Konoha. But when Naruto told him of her relation with Anko and the other special Jonins, a smile came to Gaara's lips. While her old friends may have left her, she was making new friends to replace them.

Soon they finished up and Gaara paid for the meal, at the protest of Naruto. With their bill paid for, to two walked around Suna for about an hour before Gaara escorted Naruto back to the hotel room.

"I had fun tonight Gaara-kun, thank you" said Naruto with a blush.

"I did too. Next time one of use is in the other's village we should do this again" said Gaara with a smile.

Turning to leave Gaara was pulled back by Naruto. Leaning close Naruto lightly kissed Gaara on the lips. Attempting to move away, Naruto was stopped by Gaara's arms around her waist and the kiss deepened. After about a minute the two pulled apart smiled at the other.

"Good night Gaara-kun" said Naruto with a blush and a smile.

"Good nigh Naruto-chan said Gaara and Naruto closed the door and, still smiling, she fell back on her bed.

Running her hand over her lips, Naruto smiled, 'My first kiss.'

Smiling she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Waking up the next morning Naruto got dressed and ate a small breakfast before making her way to the Kazekage's tower.

Walking up to the secretary, Naruto was able to get Tsunade's reply from the acting Kazekage from her. The council leader had the reply message already finished and gave it to his secretary to give to Naruto when she came back.

Thanking the woman, Naruto exited the building and made her way to the village's north gate.

Arriving there Naruto noticed that Gaara was waiting there for her. Smiling Naruto walked up to him and they said their good-byes. Just as Naruto was turning to leave, Gaara spun her around and planted a kiss on her lips.

Smiling, Naruto broke off the kiss and said, "Good-bye Gaara-kun. Jan ne!" as she walked out of the village and began her long journey home.

On the second day of her return trip, Naruto spent the night in a hotel just inside the Land of Fire. Waking up with a yawn Naruto got dressed and opened the door of the room.

"**Tsukuyomi**"

XxXxX

**Refresh no Jutsu**- This is a basic field jutsu that removes dust and grime from the target. It also removes all traces of sweat and lingering smells that would be sticking to the target. It is used to when a shinobi needs to sneak into a place unnoticed and don't want anything to leave a trail or alert the guards to their presence (grime on the floor or body odder smell). Also it's used for hygiene purposes to clean up a shinobi when they can't take a bath during a mission.

Hoped you like the Naruto Gaara interactions in this chapter.

I might have the next chapter out before New Years, but I make no promises.

Tell me what you think! Ja ne!


	7. Chapter 7

Deceiving Appearance

Disclaimer- I don't own this

Warning!!! If you haven't read the latest chapters in the manga, some of the things mentioned in this chapter won't make sense and there is a spoiler. But not to worry, even if you haven't read it, you can still understand what's going on. Just warning you about the content.

XxXxX

"Speaking"

'Thought'

"**Demon/jutsus**"

XxXxX

Naruto found herself strapped to a cross in a desolate plain under a red sun. In front of her was Itachi holding a sword.

In a monotone voice he said, "You are world of my creating with only your mind here, not your body. For 72 hours I will stab you in every possible way over and over again," as he plunged the sword into Naruto's gut.

"71 hours, 59 minutes, and 59 seconds remaining."

But instead of crying out Naruto let out a weak smile as she looked up at Itachi, or more specifically, at something behind him.

"A world where only my mind is her, not my body. Did you forget something about me?"

Eyes opening wide, Itachi spun around but he had no chance to cry out at the Kyuubi's jaws closed around him, "**71 hours, 59 minutes, and 58 seconds of being my chew toy!**"

Out in the real world Kisame was waiting for Itachi to finish up with Naruto. After ten seconds of waiting, Kisame started to get impatient. 'He's just taking his time, cocky bastard.'

But after thirty seconds he began to get worried. 'Something was wrong. He usually snaps out of his trance from using Takicome after a few seconds, not half a minute…'

But his musings were cut short as a wave of red chakra exploded from Naruto. Quickly grabbing Itachi, Kisame jumped back to the other side of the hallway and look at Naruto with four tails of the Kyuubi's chakra out, completely covering her in a dark red shell and making her look like a miniature Kyuubi. And to make matters worse, a fifth tail of chakra was beginning to form.

Kisame was about to yell at Itachi when he noticed his partners condition. His lower half below his chest was ripped completely off and his guts and blood were forming a gruesome trail from where Kisame was standing now to where Kyuubi-Naruto was standing.

At Naruto's feet the bloody remains of Itachi's lower extremities could be seen and chunks of flesh were on Kyuubi-Naruto's hands.

Quickly Kisame, using all the water in the building, sent a massive flood of water that slammed into Naruto and threw her into the nearby courtyard.

Seizing this opportunity to cut his losses, Kisame retrieved Itachi's ring and made a run for it in the opposite direction.

But he only got as far as the nearby forest when he felt Kyuubi-Naruto closing in on him.

Slashing his sword her, a layer of the Kyuubi's chakra was absorbed and Kyuubi-Naruto was forced back.

Quickly attempting to capitalize on this Kisame flashed through the hand seals and let another torrent of water, turning the area of the forest into a mini lake.

But this time when the water approached Kyuubi-Naruto, she leaped into the air and sent two claws made out of chakra at Kisame. Bringing his sword down on the first one, he was able to disperse it, but as the second one began to close in on the side he had to leap to the air.

As he was airborne he had to parry an aerial attack from Kyuubi-Naruto.

Bringing his sword up to cover his face and chest, Kyuubi-Naruto landed on the blade and instantly her chakra started to be absorbed by the sword. Leaping off, Naruto twisted her body to avoid swipe from Kisame. But due to the speed of the sword swing and how close she was to him, Kyuubi-Naruto's right arm was hit and the chakra shell was pealed off along with the glove that was on her arm.

Landing on the ground, her right arm was limp for a moment but it was quickly healed and the chakra shell covered it again.

Her face broke into a twisted smile and she started to gather a ball of chakra to her mouth.

Sensing the insane amount of chakra being used, Kisame attempts to move farther away, but he is too late.

Pointing towards Kisame, Kyuubi-Naruto unleashed a blast of chakra that eradicated the forest and sent a shockwave that slammed into the nearby town and caused some of the building to claps, including the hotel that Naruto stayed at.

Were the forest once stood there was now a crater nearly the size of Konoha and mushroom cloud was already was already billowing into the air.

Kisame was able to dodge the main blast but was thrown like a rag-doll by the resulting explosion and shockwave. In his right arm he still held onto his sword but his left arm was bent at an unnatural angel and he was covered in cuts and bruises. His Akitsuki clock was completely gone, showing black pants and a black tank tope he had underneath, both ripped and torn in many places.

Looking back at the center of the explosion he caught the sight of Kyuubi-Naruto. Like a demon out of hell she emerged from the mushroom cloud and was almost instantly on him, ready to rip him to shreds.

Acting instinctively, Kisame thruster his sword out in front of him and the tip his Kyuubi-Naruto right in the stomach, right where her seal is. Swiping with her right arm, she slashed Kisame's limp left arm, causing him to grimace in pain.

But when she fell off the tip of Kisame's sword Kyuubi-Naruto Naruto let out a gasp as her chakra began to drain in and then explode out of her body at random intervals. Because of the special properties of Kisame's sword and the fact that it hit right on the seal, the part of the seal that regulated the flow of chakra was damaged.

Capitalizing on this opportunity, Kisame bashed her across the chest with his sword. She was lifted up into the air on the sword before she was thrown off, taking off the chakra shell and shredding her chunin vest.

Landing on the ground the chakra shell dissipated leaving a bloodied Naruto on the ground and she began of convulse and writhe in pain on the ground.

Breathing heavily, Kisame limped over to Naruto and raised his sword. But before he could cut off her limbs, he sensed a couple dozen chakra signatures closing in from every direction.

Grimacing, Kisame turned and fled from the scene, leaving behind Naruto in the sea of destruction that she caused.

The ANBU who felt the chakra blast were the first to arrive at the seen, followed by the teams of chunin, jonin, and even some genin who where on patrol or in the area for various reasons.

All of them were shocked by the devastation around them. Quickly some of them went to the near by town to aid the civilians in finding the injured and the dead while others scoured the area for clues to what happened.

Off the far side they found Naruto convulsing on the ground. Quickly one of the ANBU with an owl mask and two chunins with medical training when to her and began trying to heal her.

"Damn it, there's nothing we can do here. We need to bring her to Konoha" said the ANBU agent.

"Is that a wise idea?" said one of the Jonins. "Look at this area, all this destruction reeks of the Kyuubi's chakra. What will happen if she goes berserk like this in Konoha?"

Before the ANBU agent could respond another Jonin came back holding a brown body bag. "You'll never guess who we found in found in the wreckage of the hotel. It was Itachi, or what was left of him," he said gesturing to the body bag in his hand. "He was ripped completely in half and was covered in trace amount of the Kyuubi's chakra. It looks like she killed him."

"There was another person her too" called out a chunin from the Inuzuka clan. There are two scents in the area and we've found pieces of flesh that don't belong to her. I'll bring back samples to Konoha."

"See!" glared the owl ANBU agent, "She killed one of Konoha's greatest criminal and fought someone else. Now prep her for emergency transfer. I'll carry her back as quickly as possible."

Through the use of enough sedatives to knock out an elephant, Naruto was finally calmed down and her wounds were bandaged up.

Moving as quickly as possible the ANBU agent made it to Konoha in less than half a day and ran strait to the hospital.

There Tsunade was called in as they began to try to save Naruto's life.

XxXxX

"HOLD HER DOWN!" shouted Tsunade as Naruto began to thrash on the table.

"She's having a seizure!" said one medic.

"There are irregularities in her chakra coils…prepare for chakra burst!" said a Hyuuga medic as a wave of chakra erupted from Naruto.

"The seal was damaged! Get Jiraiya NOW!" shouted Tsunade to a chunin by the door. "We've got to get this suit off of her!" (the black spandex suit she has on)

"We've got a problem! The material has fused with her skin, and its spreading!"

Sure enough the black material was oozing over her arms and had already covered her feet.

"We've got to keep it from spreading any further!" shouted Tsunade.

"We're trying…its acting like a second skin!" said one medic as he did a medical scene. "It's almost as if it's alive! It's fused completely with her skin!"

"It's going up her neck!"

"Prevent it from covering her head at all cost!" shouted Tsunade.

Through the combined effort of all the medics there they prevented the black substance from covering her head, but in doing so they allowed the substance to cover her entire body from the neck down.

"It's stopped trying to move upwards" said on medic.

"It's amazing!" said one medic as she did a scan of Naruto's body. "All of her wounds have completely healed. She is just suffering from chakra exhaustion!"

Just then Jiraiya entered the emergency room, "You need me?"

"Check the seal on Naruto. It was damaged during a fight" said Tsunade.

Moving to Naruto, Jiraiya was about to comply but stopped. "I need you to remove the cloths around the seal so I can get to it."

"We'll try, but it's been fused with Naruto's skin" said Tsunade. "Ok people, concentrate your chakra on separating the outer layer form her skin. Ready…Begin!"

As soon as they began applying chakra the substance began to recede and not just accost her stomach, but over her entire body. Soon all that was left were lines of the black substance going across her body.

They went over every toe and meet at one line before traveling up the front of her legs, continuing up her side before forming a ring around her neck. There was also a line going down her arms before it split and went over her fingers. These lines were also mirrored on the base of her feet, the back of her legs, her back, the underside of her arms, and the palms of her hands. Also, like her neck, there were rings of black at her waist, on her wrists, and on her ankles.

"Now that's interesting" said Tsunade. "We had so much trouble trying to stop it from spreading, and now it recedes like it was nothing." Grabbing two towels and covering Naruto's privates up Tsunade said to Jiraiya, "Now, what is the condition of the seal?"

Moving over to Naruto's stomach, Jiraiya looked over Naruto, "She looks extremely skinny. Too skinny in fact."

And it was true, Naruto looked like she had no body fat on her and was almost anorexic looking.

"I believe that's from the amount of energy she used when she was fighting Itachi and the other ninja" said Tsunade.

This news made Jiraiya pause. "It was probably Kisame. He's Itachi's partner and all. Also, that sword of his absorbs chakra so that would explain why she was so drained of chakra" he said as he looked at the seal.

Everyone in the room watched anxiously as the black marks of the seal that were holding the Kyuubi in appeared on Naruto's stomach.

Backing away with a pail face, Jiraiya said, "We need to get her out of the village, NOW! The seal is dangerously closing to break. Even now the limiters on the absorption process are gone and I can't ascertain the condition of the Kyuubi. It could be dead or it could be trying to break out at this very minute."

Nodding, Tsunade said, "Ok, I'll mover her to the forward outpost three miles south of the village, Jiraiya, come with me…"

But as she was about to finish what she was saying a sizzling was herd in the room. Looking over at Naruto the seal could be seen unraveling until only a kanji for fox could be seen. Then like a vacuum cleaner, the Kanji for fox was sucked into her stomach and it was accompanied by a blinding white light

Everyone was blasted into the walls and the windows were blown out. Opening her eyes, Tsunade was greeted by a sight that she will never forget.

Instead of the Kyuubi standing there in front of her as she feared when the seal broke, there stood Naruto, floating a half a foot off the ground. The black substance had one again covered her body and it even moved up to cover her lower chin and extending up to underneath her ears, following her jaw line.

But what really grabbed Tsunade's attention was Naruto's back. Three bulges were growing out, two below her shoulders and one in the center of her back. Soon from these bulges three new bulges formed and started to grow, giving Naruto the appearance of nine spikes or wings coming out of her back. They continued to grow until they were two feet long each.

Floating in the center of the room, Naruto impassively over everything with her deep blue eyes but it was like she saw nothing in the room. Then, just as impassively she turned to the window and began to float out.

Regaining her voice, Tsunade called out, "Naruto! Wait! Where are you going?"

Stopping and looking back at her, Naruto said, "_Na-ru-to? Onii-san calls…_" and with that Naruto floated out of the window before she took off into the sky.

Turning to Jiraiya, Tsunade said, "Take two ANBU teams and follow her but don't engage unless absolutely necessary. Now GO!"

Quickly Jiraiya left with the two teams, hot on the trail of Naruto.

XxXxX

For a week they followed Naruto float along at a light pace, not stopping for food or rest. Finally after a week of travel Naruto stopped at the edge of a lake.

Sitting down she wrapped her arms around her legs and looked out at the lake, ignoring the ANBU team that was following her.

Silently the ANBU took position in the surrounding area and Jiraiya moved out to Naruto and sat next to her.

"Hey Naruto, what's going on?"

"_Onii-san is coming_" she replied in a whispery voice.

"Who is your brother?" asked Jiraiya in a kind voice.

"_Sanbi, Sanbi no Isonade_" she said turning her head towards Jiraiya.

"_I know you…but I can't remember…_"

"My name is Jiraiya. I was the one who trained you for the chunin exams and I've been giving you training scrolls to study. You used to always call me ero-senin, remember?" he said in a hopeful voice.

Hearing this, Naruto smiled, "_Ero-senin, hehe, I remember you now. You were the only person who actually took the time to teach me anything._" Leaning her head against his arm and closing her eyes she continued, "_I always felt that I could trust you._"

Touched by this admission, Jiraiya put his arm gently around her shoulders. "What other things do you remember anything else? Do you remember Konoha? Anyone else?"

"_Yes, I remember this feeling deep in my chest that I want to protect it… that despite the treatment from the people in the village that I want to protect all of them. Because I love the village_" she said as she put her hand to her chest. "_But there are other memories, memories full of hate and anger. In these memories I have great power and I'm using it to destroy Konoha until I'm stopped by a man riding a frog._"

Looking up at Jiraiya she continues, "_What does this mean? How can I love a place, but enjoy destroying it at the same time?_"

Looking into Naruto's eyes Jiraiya asked, "Do you remember the Kyuubi?" Seeing her nod he continued, "Those memories of hate and anger are from it. But your memories are the ones with the love for the village."

"_But how can I have two memories inside me?_" asked a confused Naruto.

"Some how, you absorbed the Kyuubi when the seal on your stomach broke. But you are still you. The Kyuubi has not taken over you, you took over the Kyuubi" said Jiraiya in a stern but confident voice as he tightened his embrace around Naruto.

"Do you remember anything else?"

"_I remember two more people. One is this one really strong lady. She looks younger than she really is and even though she can have a nasty temper, she is very nice. Almost like a mother_" she said with a smile.

"That must be Tsunade, she's the Hokage of Konoha" said Jiraiya. "Who else do you remember?"

"_It's a boy, around my age with red hair and black surrounding his eyes. I feel that I can trust him with anything, and when I think about him, I get a warm feeling in my chest_" said Naruto with a smile.

Smiling Jiraiya said, "That must be Gaara from Suna."

"_Gaara-kun_" she said smiling. "_Yes that's his name._"

Closing her eyes again Naruto leaned against Jiraiya and just stayed there for a few minutes until suddenly she sate up right and looked out at the lake.

"_He his here now_" said Naruto a whispery tone as she kept on staring at the lake.

Suddenly, the water near the shore began to bubble and from it emerged a giant turtle like thing with three tails.

The ANBU hiding in the trees tensed up, but remained hidden, waiting for Jiraiya's signal to move in. Jiraiya, on the other hand, just remained motionless as Naruto got up and walked to the edge of the lake.

"_Onii-san_"

Opening its mouth, the Sanbi began to speak in deep, drawn out voice. "**Kyuubi, is that you? No you are not the one who is called Kyuubi. I know you. You are the one who has my sister sealed away in her stomach.**"

Leaning closer he continued, "**But no more, you have taken over the Kyuubi. Such a thing I would never had thought possible but it happened. For a human to over power my sister in a battle of wills…incredible.**"

"_Onii-san, I'm confused about what has happened and about who I am. I have the memories of two people in me. Please help me, Onii-san._"

"**It's ok, little sister. I will help you understand.**"

Moving even closer, the Sanbi toughed the tip of his head to Naruto's forehead and the area was covered in a flash of white light. Moving quickly, Jiraiya caught Naruto as she collapsed, her nine spikes/wings disappearing back into her body.

"**Interesting. Never before has the taken over the demon that's held within them. Usually when the two merge, the demon comes out on top, destroying the human and getting free. This has happened before with the Inochi and the Hachibi.**"

"**Or the human would become a half demon like what happened to the host of the Rokubi a couple of hundred years ago. But this human female, took over the Kyuubi, the greatest of all us Bijuu and was left uncorrupted.**"

Looking strait at Jiraiya, the Sanbi continued, "**I looked through her memories and helped her come to terms what happened to her. Were before the Kyuubi was consumed by rage and hatred, she is filled with love and the desire to protect her home.**"

"**It's funny really. We Bijuu where formed from the power and emotions that you humans give off, especially during battle. The Kyuubi was formed from the strongest emotions that pervades the battle field, hatred, rage, but the emotions of loyalty and desire to protect something was also there. When she was first born, these emotions where there, but as time went on they disappeared.**"

Looking at Naruto, he continued, "**This human won't be corrupted like the Kyuubi was. She withstood the hate and scorn from her home and still wants to give her entire begin to save them. It was this desire and strength of will that allowed her to take the Kyuubi over. It will take some time for all her memories to come back to her, but she will remember in time. Both her and the Kyuubi's memories.**"

Giving Jiraiya the closest thing to a smile he could, he said, "**But don't worry, Jiraiya. Like the character in your book she's named after she is strong and kind and she is destined for great things. But remember this, destiny is one part fate, one part action. Choose wisely.**"

And with that the Sanbi left, leaving behind a stunned Jiraiya. 'I did name her and she said that I was the only one who truly trained her. It's almost as if I…raised her! Could I have been wrong about whom the destined child is? It's her!'

Holding Naruto tightly to his chest he called out to the ANBU in the trees. "Lets go, there's nothing more for us to do here."

XxXxX

That's it for this chapter, I hoped you liked it and please tell me what you think about it.

Ja ne!


	8. Chapter 8

Deceiving Appearance

Disclaimer- I don't own this story or the characters in it.

XxXxX

"Speaking"

'Thought'

"**Demon/jutsus**"

XxXxX

Jiraiya and his ANBU team made it back to Konoha with the still unconscious Naruto in Jiraiya's arms and he brought her back to the hospital.

The room she destroyed when she left had been repaired and once again Naruto was lying unconscious on the hospital bed in it. Sitting down in the chair next to the bed, Jiraiya rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and looked at the unconscious form of Naruto. 'You really made things complicated this time gaki.'

The door to the room opened up and Tsunade walked in, looking just as tired as Jiraiya felt. Going over to Naruto Tsunade began giving her an examination and asked "What happened?"

"Well… from what I was told by the Sanbi, she will experience some memory loss, but all of her memory should return to her eventually. By the time she reached the lake she started to recognize her surroundings and the people around her. If it makes you feel better, she remembers you" said Jiraiya pointing at Tsunade.

"Wait, the Sanbi as in…" Tsunade asked startled.

"Yes, as in the Sanbi no Isonade" replied Jiraiya.

"And you were able to talk with it? I thought that the Sanbi was supposed to be a mindless monster in a lake?"

"It is a demon after all and one of the nine Bijuu, so what are we to say is normal?"

Finishing her examination of Naruto, Tsunade sat down in a chair near the bed and let out a sigh. Reaching over to Naruto she brushed a stray lock of hair out of her eyes she asked, "What else did she remember?"

"She remembered me, the village, and that Gaara kid from Suna. But it's not just her memories she has, she also has the Kyuubi's memories."

As soon as Jiraiya said this Tsunade's head shot up with a look of alarm, but before she said anything Jiraiya calmed her down with a wave of his hand and said, "She is still the Naruto-chan we know and love, just with the fox's memories tucked away in there too. But before you start freaking out, I checked her over on the way back. She is still human."

The stunned Tsunade plopped herself back down in the chair and looked concerned at Naruto before she asked, "W-what else did you learn?"

"Well…the personality of the Kyuubi is dead and left behind it's memories and essence inside of Naruto" said Jiraiya looking at Naruto before glancing back at Tsunade on to receive a confused look.

Thinking a little Jiraiya explained, "Think of it this way. Before the analogy of a cup full of milk was used to describe Naruto-chan's relation with the Kyuubi and its power.

Say the milk represents the demonic chakra, this means you need a milk carton, or in this case, the Kyuubi's personality to refill the glass with milk. But now that the personality is gone the best way to describe her now is a well house. A well house is interlaced with the actual well of water, or chakra, and can get the water on its own.

But the well house only houses the well and is not truly one with it. Naruto now contains the essence of the Kyuubi that could tap into the limitless well of demonic chakra and she is in control of the flow, not the Kyuubi"

"So, how much of the Kyuubi's chakra can she use?" slowly asked Tsunade.

"Truth be told…I don't know" smiled Jiraiya.

"From what I could observe, she should be able to draw upon four tails worth as if it was nothing. But with some effort she could easily draw out all nine tails."

"That's…a lot of power in the hands of one person" said Tsunade wide eyed.

Chuckling Jiraiya said, "Well, jinchuuriki are the ultimate human weapons for a reason."

"Humm…you're going to need to train her so that she doesn't loose control and kill everyone" said Tsunade looking directly at Jiraiya.

"That, my dear friend, is something I was already planning on doing."

XxXxX

Naruto spent the next week in the hospital, drifting in and out of sleep. During that time Naruto was able to regain most of the weight that she lost due to her transformation and most of her human memories returned to her, with the memories of the Kyuubi coming to her slowly.

But by the time the week was over, Naruto was going stir crazy in the hospital. She had recovered enough to leave the day before, but Tsunade decided to keep her over one more day.

Standing up in the middle of the room with her wing/spikes out Naruto cried out "Augh! I'm sick of this place! I want out!"

"Calm down gaki" said Jiraiya sitting in the chair in the room eyeing her. "Screaming won't do you any good."

"I know, but it's just so frustrating and boring here!" wined Naruto like a little kid as she pouted and tried so sit down in a chair, the key word being tried.

"And these damn spikes keep getting in my way!" screamed Naruto as the chair fell over and she continued to pace around the room once again.

"If they get in your way, them try to move them" said a frustrated Jiraiya, not thinking about what he was saying. "They're not there when you were unconscious."

"They weren't? Wow, thanks Ero-sennin, I'll try that now!" said Naruto as she put her hands together and began to mold the chakra in her body.

Soon wisps of orange chakra could be seen flowing around her and she began to sweat. The spikes began to sway and seamed to grow smaller and smaller. Suddenly there was a rush of air and sucking sound as the spikes went into her back.

At the same time her hair began to grow longer till it reached down to the center of her back and from the tips to halfway up turned an orange color that faded into her golden yellow hair. The long strands of hair then flayed themselves into nine different clumps when the spikes on her back receded completely.

Taken aback by what just happened Jiraiya cried out as he fell from his chair, "Gaki! What the hell did you just do?!"

"I don't know!" shouted Naruto. "I was concentrating on having them go back into my body when this happened" cried Naruto as he held up a clump of her hair as she looked at it.

"Great now you've probably put on alert every shinobi in the village with that chakra pulse you just put out" muttered Jiraiya just as Tsunade bust into the room.

"What's going on in here!" she shouted.

"The gaki got tired of the spikes, so she tried something. This is the result" said Jiraiya with his head in his hand.

"Your hair changed? Ok, that's… weird," said Tsunade before she tuned to Jiraiya and sent him flying into the wall, "And I said no chakra molding until she was out of the hospital!"

Jiraiya was about to yell back, and make the situation that much worse for himself, when Naruto spoke up, "So, can I leave now?"

Letting out a sight, Tsunade said, "Yes you can leave. But wait." Reaching into her bag she pulled out a storage scroll and with a poof, a kimono similar to Shizune's appeared (except the white trim and sash are orange) and a pair of black shinobi sandals.

"Put this on" commanded Tsunade. "That black substance may keep you protected, but it leaves absolutely nothing to the imagination. Think of it more as a second skin rather than a layer of clothing. That means you've been technically naked in front of this pervert her all day" she said with a smile as she gestured to Jiraiya who was getting up from off the floor.

Gratefully Naruto put it on and turned to Tsunade, "Now can I go?"

"Yes, and take this pervert with you. Have him treat you to ramen while your out" said and evilly smiling Tsunade.

Naruto happily complied and she literally dragged the still dazed sennin out of the hospital to Ichiraku Ramen Stand. When he came to a realization of where he was he let out a cry, thinking of his wallet before he turned to Naruto, or more precisely the stack of empty ramen bolls and began mourning the loss of his wallet.

XxXxX

The next two weeks for Naruto were spent trying to become re-accustomed to her body.

She still wore to kimono that Tsunade gave her with the black sandals but added her chunin vest over it and tied her hair into a single ponytail in the back.

Through practice and help from Jiraiya, she had also figured out how to retract the 'second skin' (what black substance will be called) so that only the lines of black could be seen on her skin (see previous chapter for full description). She decided that when she was on a mission or training she would have the second skin out, but otherwise it would be retracted.

Through experimentations they figured out that the demon chakra retained much of the same qualities that it held when the Kyuubi was behind it. It still comes out of her when she's using more than a tail's worth, but now her hair replaces the chakra tails and the chakra covers her like a fine mist.

Also, when she calls on half a tail worth of chakra her eye's become red like they used to and her teeth and whisker marks become larger. But the chakra isn't red anymore, it's orange and not as corrosive or malevolent as it was before.

Another thing that they found out was that while Naruto could access the demon chakra with out the negative side effects, all of her human chakra seamed to have been absorbed by the demonic chakra, making her completely reliant on it for all of her chakra needs.

Jiraiya would have liked to take her on a training trip with him for a few years, but he still had to follow the council's orders about also training Sasuke so he couldn't.

This takes us to where we are today at Team Seven's usual training ground.

Sakura was there working on the basic stances for the style of taijutsu that Tsunade was teaching her. Sasuke was off to the side working on a jutsu that Jiraiya had taught him and Naruto was standing in the middle of the field facing the practice logs.

Sasuke was pissed off at Naruto for killing Itachi and had vowed to defeat her to show that he was the stronger one of the two and could have beaten Itachi if he was given the chance.

Kakashi was there giving pointers to them if he felt they needed it, aka, mostly to Sasuke. And Jiraiya was actually helping Sakura with one of the stances. Getting beat into the ground so many times by Tsunade helped him to learn the style of fighting that she uses.

Flashing through a series of hand seals Naruto breathed in and let out the jutsu. Instead of a regular get of flames that were expected, a stream of blue plasma escaped from her lips and incinerated the logs that she was aiming at.

Looking up Jiraiya smiled, "So, you were able to combine the wind and fire elements in your lung before releasing the jutsu…I swear if it was anyone but you they would have burned their insides out" chuckled Jiraiya.

"Keep working on the forms while I see Naruto-chan" Jiraiya said to Sakura as he walked over to where Naruto was practicing.

"Naruto-chan, for that display of power, I will teach you yet another jutsu" said Jiraiya to the suddenly smiling blond. "Well, truth be told it's not an actual jutsu, just something that you can do with an existing Jutsu. Did you know that through the use of Kage Bunshin no Jutsu you gain the experience of what the cones did?"

Seeing Naruto nod her head Jiraiya continued. "This is great for intelligence and figuring out your enemy's weakness and even for training, but there is one more thing you can do with the cones. Do you know what that is? Hmm?" said Jiraiya with and evil smile.

"Just tell me already Ero-sennin, please" begged Naruto.

"You can make them explode! By concentrating a lot of chakra into the clone and having it dispel, all that built up chakra comes rushing out as an explosion. Try it out, put about five times as much chakra into a cone and send it over there" said Jiraiya as he pointed to the burned out area.

Naruto complied and made her clone and had it go stand in the center of the blasted area.

Casually throwing a shuriken at the clone Naruto and Jiraiya watched the shuriken approach the clone and make contact with it.

The moment the shuriken came into contact with the clone a massive explosion went off that ripped apart the ground and the shockwave sent everyone flying back.

Though dazed, everyone was uninjured and they turned around to see the devastation left by the explosion.

The area were the clone was completely gone leaving only a good sized crater in its wake.

"What was that?" asked a dazed Sakura as she stumbled to her feet.

"I said only five time that of a normal clone gaki!"

"Sorry! My chakra control isn't all the way back yet!" cried Naruto defensively.

"You can say that again" said Sakura as she staggered over to them. "Anyone hurt?"

"No we're good" said Kakashi.

"Hey dope, what was that move you just did?" asked an angry Sasuke.

"Hehe, just something that Ero-sennin taught me" laughed Naruto as she rubbed the back of her head.

Still glaring, Sasuke looked at Jiraiya and demanded, "Teach that to me too."

Sighing Jiraiya said, "I will, but as of right now you don't have enough chakra to use it properly and beside" he sad as he looked over to the training dummy he was using, "don't you have a water jutsu you need to learn first? You know my rules; learn one jutsu before you learn another one."

"Fine, but I need your help with it" said Sasuke.

"Fine, fine. Naruto, as much as it pains me to sound like Kakashi, you need to go practice your chakra control. Try doing handstands on the surface of the water" said Jiraiya as he went over to help Sasuke.

From the river a splash and a yelp could be heard as Naruto fell head first into the cold water.

The former team seven continued to train together for a few more weeks. Naruto was still recovering and learning to control herself while the rest of team seven were in the middle of a training sabbatical as they waited for a new team member to fill Naruto's place, taking only D-rank missions every now and then.

One day after training, Naruto was heading down the streets of Konoha (the second skin is retracted) when she heard a familiar voice call out to her.

"Hey Naru-chan!"

Turning around, Naruto noticed the form of Anko approaching her. Stopping and turning around, Naruto waited until Anko caught up with her.

"Haven't seen you in a while. Last time I saw you, you were unconscious in the hospital. Glad to see that you're better now" said a smiling Anko.

"T-thank you Anko-chan" said a slightly blushing Naruto.

"So where are you headed off to now?" asked Anko.

"Well, I just got done some training, so I was planning on going home and relaxing a little" said Naruto as she glanced around at the street.

"In that case then," said Anko as she grabbed a hold of Naruto's hand "To the hot springs we go!"

"Wait! B-but!" Naruto tried to protest as she was dragged down the street by smiling Anko.

Reaching the hot springs Anko and Naruto entered the bathing pool area when they saw Shizune sitting off in the corner by herself.

"Hey Shizune-neechan!" called out Naruto as she moved to sit next to her.

"Naruto-chan, Anko-san, I wasn't expecting to meet you here" smiled Shizune.

"Me nether, but Anko-chan dragged me here against my will" said Naruto as she gestured to Anko who sat down next to her.

"Quit complaining gaki, it's not like you're not enjoying yourself" said Anko as she opened up the town and leaned back into the water.

"It's good to come here and relax Naruto-chan" said Shizune. "The hot water can help sooth your muscles and can speed up the recovery process. Speaking of recovery, you are certainly looking better than the last time I saw you."

"Well, you know me and healing" laughed Naruto as she rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment.

"Still she's right" said Anko. "You shouldn't push yourself too much."

"Hey, not you too!" cried Naruto. "I'm fine now. My chakra is finally under control again and I will be taking missions again shortly."

"Have you been learning a lot from Jiraiya?" asked Shizune.

"Yea, I learned a bunch of cool new jutsus that will defiantly kick ass! We also when over strategies and battlefield communication methods which I didn't like as much. I mean, I understand why I need to know it and everything, but it was just a lot to take in at once" said Naruto bringing out a chuckle from Shizune.

"It's a good thing then that you're not going to be a medic-nin. If you think that was a lot to take in at once try to understand the human body and all the ways to fix it" laughed Shizune.

"Yea, well I'm not a medic, so there" said Naruto as she stuck out her tong at her. "Anyway, what have you been up to? I haven't seen you around that much."

"There's a reason for that" said Shizune floating in the water. "I've been busy at the hospital, helping out Tsunade-sama, and on top of that going on some missions."

"Damn, that is a full schedule" commented Anko. "I'm surprised you're not falling asleep right here and now."

"That sound like a good idea actually" said Shizune as she leaned back into the water.

"So, Anko-san, how have your missions been going?" asked Shizune with her eyes closed.

"Some fun, some not so fun" said Anko with a shrug. "And Ibuki-kun has been keeping me busy over in T&I when I'm in town. But I did meet this really good looking man" smiled Anko.

Both Naruto and Shizune looked at Anko as she continued. "He was this big strong shinobi and he looked like he would have been so much fun. But he just up and died on me before I could even extract where he was from. I mean, what kind of man can't take a little torture?"

At this Naruto, Shizune, and a few other girls who overheard Anko all developed sweat drops on the back of their heads.

"Some days I forget that it's you I'm talking to" muttered Shizune.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" cried Anko.

"Nothing, nothing at all"

XxXxX

A few days latter, Naruto was back again on active duty, this time to a B-class mission to deliver a storage scroll from Konoha to the Dynamo of the Land of Fire. Getting there was no problem and the storage scroll was delivered safely but on the return trip, Naruto ran into a slight problem.

About a half a day outside of Konoha as Naruto was making her way through the trees she spotted movement up ahead.

Crouching low in the tree and moving as quietly as she possible could, Naruto made her way to where the movement was coming from.

Moving towards one of the main roads from Konoha to the eastern part of the Land of Fire was a group of around twenty Oto-nins, or in other words five squads of four people. Some of the nins were chunins and some where jonins.

Running through the options in her head, Naruto decided the best course of action was to let the group pass by and alert Konoha of their presence. Sure she might be able to take them down, but against that many nins by herself she could be overwhelmed and killed, leaving no one to warn Konoha.

Unfortunately for her, the decision of whether or not to engage them was not up to here as suddenly one of the Oto-nins leaped at her from her right side.

Pushing off the branch right before it was turned into splinters Naruto brought her hands into the familiar cross shape seal and said, "**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!**"

With a puff of smoke ten Naruto's appeared next to her and they all leaped at the Oto-nins.

Down on the ground with the remaining Oto-nins they heard the sound of the tree branch being destroyed and heard Naruto call out her Jutsu. They smirked thinking that they had won and killed to lone Konoha shinobi when on either side of the group two groups of three clones rushed out and attacked them.

The first two clones of the groups attacked the first Oto-nins they encountered with kunai and shuriken.

One of the clones was dispersed immediately and another one got into a draw with a four armed Oto-jonin with two swords. Suddenly the nine spikes of hair on that Naruto clone wiped around and extended, impaling the Oto-nin in the chest and neck before he could even cry out.

Similar the clone on the other side that lost its partner sent out her spikes of hair at two nins, killing one and injuring the other.

The work of the first two clones in the two groups opened a path to the center of the group for the last cones in the groups and they charged into the center.

They didn't even try to block or evade the different attacks from the Oto-nins for when they hit them they immediately exploded, killing or injuring many of the Oto-nins and separating the survivors into two groups.

In the front group five Oto-nins where left standing and out of the dust cloud Naruto leaped at the closest nin, eyes glowing red with a rasengan in her hands. Slamming it into the shinobi's chest a crunch was heard as it shattered the man's ribcage, sending pieces of bone into his heart and lungs and caused the mans body to get blasted away and slam into a tree.

Two other Naruto's leaped from the one Naruto's shoulders and attacked two other nins with kunai and spikes of hair.

With two other Oto-nins distracted, the first Naruto jumped out of the way of an earth jutsu that caused spikes of rocks to shoot out of the ground. Leaping again to avoid a sound based attack, Naruto flashed through the hand seals and unleashed a group of five fireballs at the two nins which were easily avoided.

By this time the other two Naruto's that were attacking were already dispersed and when the one Naruto landed on the ground she was surrounded by the four remaining Oto-nins.

All four of them charged at her with kunai and swords and while Naruto was able to injure all of them is some way, mostly in the legs, they quickly turned her chest into a pincushion.

With bloody smirk Naruto disappeared in a puff of smoke and before the Oto-nins could react, due to their injured legs, a blast of blue plasma erupted from the ground like a volcano incinerating them were they stood.

From the ground three other red eyed Narutos climbed out of the ground and they dispersed themselves after making sure all the Oto-nins were dead.

The other group of Oto-nins had nin shinobi in it, with two of them badly injured. Right after the explosion a claw of orange chakra erupted from the ground and latched onto one of the healthy nins.

It partially dragged him into that ground before he was dragged off screaming into the underbrush, leaving a trail of blood and torn up earth in his wake.

The six remaining health Oto-nins moved to go help their comrade when the sound of movement above them caught their attention.

Five Naruto's jumped out of the trees and unleashed and Uzumaki Flower no Jutsu on the group. Two of the health nins and the two injured ones were consumed by the wave of plasma, but the other four remaining were able to get away safely.

Already the area of the forest they were fighting in was destroyed and now the air began to fill up with the ash and dust of the foliage and people Naruto incinerated.

The four Narutos surrounding the one on the middle flew at the Oto-nins but were caught in a hail of jutsus and weapons, causing them to disperse.

Landing on the ground, the one remaining Naruto was forced to leap back to avoid a Grand Fireball no Jutsu from one of the Oto-nins.

The sound of music could be heard coming from a flute in the hands of another nin and the world began to go blurry and get distorted for Naruto.

Quickly flaring her chakra to dispel the genjutsu, Naruto was sent flying across the clearing by another Oto-nin, this one with brass knuckles attached to a music arm on both of his arms.

Stumbling to her feet as she tried to regain her balance, Naruto rolled out of the way of a kick, only to find that it somehow still hit her, nailing her in the temple.

'Damn genjutsu!' thought Naruto as she leaped into the air.

Drawing on about two tails worth of chakra, a veil of chakra covered Naruto and her whisker and fangs grew bigger.

Sending a blast of chakra below her, Naruto was able to dispel the genjutsu she was under and knock the nin with the melody arms into the ground right before he was about to hit her.

Landing on the man's stomach and causing him to sink into the ground, Naruto gathered her chakra into her hand and brought it down upon the man's head, causing a crater to form and covering her hand and face in blood and brain matter.

Looking up Naruto flashed through the hand seals and unleashed seven fireballs at the remaining three Oto-nins, missing all of them but setting the surrounding forest on fire.

Leaping over the Oto-nins' attacks and the burning forest, Naruto made three more clones and turned to face the clearing.

At the same time all four Narutos unleashed a Wind Stream no Jutsu which when it hit the flames, caused them to wash other the clearing and everyone in it in a wave of flames.

Silence broken only by the crackling of the remaining fires filled the clearing.

Dispelling her clones and relaxing her chakra, the now blue eyed Naruto walked into the clearing. Two of the Oto-nins where dead and the third one was covered in third degree burns all over his body.

Walking up to the suffering man, Naruto knelt before him. The Oto-nin was young, only a year older than Naruto at most.

"Y-y-you M-monster…w-what a-a-are y-y-you?" he gasped, death near at hand.

"Hush now, go to sleep" Naruto said gently holding he man's head as she reached for a kunai.

"I-I-I d-d-d-don't w-w-want t-to d-d-die" the man pleaded

"I'm sorry" whispered Naruto as she brought the kunai over the man's neck and cut his throat.

Wiping the tear from her eyes, Naruto did a quick fire jutsu at all the remaining bodies, completely incinerating them as she walked out of the clearing.

Coming back to Konoha she was a sight to behold she was covered in grime and blood that not even a Refresh no Jutsu could fully get rid of, although it did help greatly.

Making her way to Tsunade's office the secretary let her in right as she got there, giving Naruto the impression that she was expected.

Walking into the office, Naruto found Tsunade sitting behind her desk, not even batting an eye at Naruto's appearance. Looking to her left Naruto saw an ANBU with a tiger mask standing there looking at her.

"Naruto, report" commanded Tsunade.

"Hai, Delivery mission to Dynamo of the Land of Fire, successful. On the return trip I encountered twenty Oto-nins moving through our territory. I was going to let them pass by and warn Konoha, but they spotted me and I was forced to fight. In the ensuing battle I was able to divide their forces into two groups and use that to kill them all off. Their bodies have been disposed of, and the only thing to ever show that there was a battle is the burnt section of the woods" concluded Naruto as she finished up her report.

Looking over a piece of paper in front of her, Tsunade said, "So you were able to kill them all? What levels where they at?"

"I believe I got them all as I counted the remains when it was over, but if there were more that were hiding and never fought then I wouldn't know about them. As for their levels, I would say and mix of chunin and jonins" answered Naruto.

"There were more Oto-nins hiding in the woods that you didn't know about" said Tsunade looking at Naruto. "While you were taking care of those nins, Tora over here" as she gestured to the ANBU, "and his squad were engaging in combat with a squad of Oto ANBU."

"Oh," said Naruto slightly taken aback.

"Permission to speak, Hokage-sama" asked the ANBU and seeing Tsunade node her head he steeped forward and started to walk around Naruto.

"In your battle, you unnecessarily called out your attacks and went for the mass effect attacks when a simpler, stealthier method could have been used. Your strategy had holes in it that could have easily been exploited and lead to your death" Tora grilled Naruto.

"But there is promise in you. You were able to take on a superior force in both numbers and experience and live to tell about it without any major injuries. Your use of your clones was creative and effective. There is promise in you, but there are also many flaws."

Pulling out a folder from nowhere, he continued, "Uzumaki Naruto, it says here your stealth is above average and that you were able to hide from chunin while you were in the academy. Ninjutsu stills are above average, Taijutsu is average, and your Genjutsu skills are, lacking, for lack of a better word."

"It also says that you were a prankster and loved to get attention to yourselves, although that tendency has seemed to die away. Did you ever try turning your skills at pranking into trap making, No?" he said, looking up at Naruto.

"Hum… lets see, you've been on 23 D-rank missions, 9 C-rank missions, 2 B-rank missions, 2 A-rank mission, and have had and S-ranked encounter that cumulated with you killing the S-rank missing-nin Uchiha Itachi. All missions except for the one that had the S-rank encounter have been successful. You're rank is chunin, special promotion by Hokage-sama, and you are the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Yoko."

Looking at the page again he continued, "Wait, it says that you hold the essence of the Kyuubi and that the personality is dead due to injuries you sustained in combat. It also says that you have a contract with Toad summons and are on friendly terms with Sabaku no Gaara, the jinchuuriki of Suna and current candidate to be the Kazekage. Do you deny any of this?"

"No, but what's this about! Why do you have my personnel folder?" demanded a confused Naruto.

"Isn't a commander supposed to know about his underlings?" questioned Tora.

Naruto looked towards Tsunade with a confused look only to be handed a scroll and a fox mask. The mask had black streaks that went from the ears to the eyes and six black whiskers. The rest of the mask was white and there were burnt orange outlines surrounding the black marks on the mask.

"Uzumaki Naruto, welcome to the ANBU."

XxXxX

Wow, this is the longest chapter I have ever written.

Now before you freak out, there will be Gaara and Naruto action in the next chapter. This is just setting the stage for the time skip and how to get Naruto over to Suna, trust me, you'll like what I have planed.

As always please review and tell me any suggestions or problems you might have.

Ja ne!


	9. Chapter 9

Deceiving Appearance

Disclaimer- I don't own this story or the characters in it.

Sorry it been so long since I last updated, I've been busy with school work so I haven't been able to write.

XxXxX

"Speaking"

'Thought'

"**Demon/jutsus**"

XxXxX

_Time skip two years…_

A girl, 15 years of age dressed in ANBU armor with a fox mask moved through the trees without a sound. At first glance this girl would be considered a normal member of the ANBU, but take a closer look and two things stand out as unique.

The first is her hair. Her golden blond hair is tied into a short ponytail in the back, nothing unusual there. But the tips of her hair fade into an orange color and the hair was frayed at the end into nine different parts. Unique, but not unheard of.

The second feature was that besides the standard ANBU uniform, she was also had on what looked like a black spandex like suite that covered her body, from her neck to her feet. And it wasn't something that a normal person would be wearing. The truth is that the black suite is more like a second skin for her, protecting her from harm. 

Landing on a tree branch the fox ANBU looked down at the road in front of her. Sliding her feet along the branch the souls of her second skin griped the branch as she prepared to launch herself at the yet to be seen target. She wasn't wearing the normal ninja sandals, preferring instead to allow her "shoes" that were composed of her second skin that covered her feet to offer all the protection and support she needed.

Taking a deep breath she began to build up the chakra in her body while not allowing any to escape in the surrounding environment. She would have only one shot at the target.

Currently the target came around the bend. He was a business man and had in his hands a briefcase containing sensitive documents. So sensitive in fact that he hired a team of Kiri jonin to protect him. 

The leader of the Kiri-nin was one of the Seven Swordsmen and the other three were his apprentices. Each one was skilled with their swords and a jonin in rank and together they were some of the best Kiri had to offer.

Her mission was to kill the man and take the document. The Kiri-nins were of no consequence to her. If she had a team to back her up she would have gone with the strategy of taking out the guards before going after the man. But she was alone and she had to not only take out the target but also retrieve the documents, limiting in what moves she could pull.

Preparing herself the target entered her line of attack.

(slow time down)

Releasing her built up chakra she launched herself at the target in a hyper accelerated shunshin.

Slamming into the chest of the target he was lifted off his feet and his eyes didn't even have a chance to begin to open with shock.

Her black covered fingers elongated and sharpened as the ANBU brought them up under the man's armpits, cutting his arms off, before moving to his neck and severing his head from his body. 

One spike of her hair wrapped around the handle of the briefcase as her right hand grabbed onto the man's head.

At this time his body began to fall back down to the ground and just as the ANBU looked up at the massive swords of the Kiri-nin descended upon her.

(normal time)

The Kiri-nin swords' seamed to cut the fox ANBU into tiny pieces, only to have the pieces be replaced by the remains of a log. With a splat and a thud what remained of the business man and the pieces of the log fell to the ground in the middle of the road.

It was over in less than a second. Naruto killed the target and took the briefcase before escaping from the pissed off Kiri jonins. Smiling to herself she began to silently make her way back to Konoha, creating several shadow clones to get any pursuers off her trail.

XxXxX

Arriving at the gates of Konoha with the head and briefcase sealed inside a storage scroll Naruto made her way passed the guards and into the village proper.

Jumping from roof top to roof top Naruto made her way to the ANBU headquarters. On her way there she caught glimpses of village below her and the people who inhabit it. 

Team 8 was waiting under a tree for Kurenai, Team 10 was walking to a restaurant, and 'her' Team 7 was at a training ground.

In all truth, it wasn't 'her team' anymore. After she joined the ANBU and moved into the headquarters, a new member joined the team. He was one of the former Root boys named Sai. Personality like a rock with a smiley face painted on it and a list of insults taped to the back, but he was a skilled ninja and not really a bad guy once you got to know him. 

As she passed by she saw Sakura and Sai sparing while Kakashi was leaning against a tree reading his book. Sasuke was off to the side working with Jiraiya on some thing or another. 

As much as it pained her to admit it, those two have grown on each other. With Jiraiya's personality, he was able to get the broody Uchiha to open up a little and with Sasuke's talent they were soon working on the more advanced techniques including summoning toads. The two even began to form a father-son teacher bond, mostly due to Jiraiya's personality, and she had even heard Jiraiya compare Sasuke's progress and skill level to the Yondaime.

Now that hurt Naruto's feelings when she heard it. After making ANBU, Tsunade gave her a scroll containing the identity of her parents along with a picture and a letter written by her father on that fateful night. Both the picture and the letter she kept on her night stand in her room in the barracks, one of the only personal items she had at her bunk.

The truth was that she hasn't so much as talked with anyone of the rookie nine and only briefly worked with Guy's team and even then they didn't talk. All of her former friends had written her out of their lives and moved on. The only people outside of work she talks to now are Anko, Shizune, and of course Gaara.

Speaking of Gaara, she now knew him very well indeed.

Sense becoming an ANBU member Naruto has been to Suna a couple of times for missions and they made sure that they met up each time. In fact he confessed to her that the only time he has ever been able to sleep was when he was with her…

Shaking her head to regain control of her thoughts and suppressing a slight blush, Naruto made her way into the ANBU headquarters. Walking up to the office of the head ANBU Captain, Naruto received permission to enter. 

Seated behind the desk was a man, dressed in the normal ANBU armor with a panda mask on his face. "Fox, report."

"Mission successful" said Naruto as she placed the storage scroll on the man's desk. "He hired high level Kiri-nins to guard him, one of the Seven Swordsmen and his apprentices. I was able to bypass them and get the target and escape without taking any damage."

"You didn't engage the Kiri-nins?" questioned the leader.

"Negative sir. I couldn't engage them while retaining the level of stealth required for the mission as well as ensuring the safety of the documents" replied Naruto stiffly.

"Understood Fox. You can go rest now" replied the leader as he dismissed Naruto.

Giving the commander a bow Naruto left the room and made her way to her bunk. Striping off her armor and retracting her second skin, Naruto took a quick shower before going to sleep, dreaming dreams of a fox running after a redheaded raccoon.

XxXxX

In the council room Tsunade sat at the head of the table with the council members sitting down.

"Hokage-sama, what is the meaning of this meeting?" asked one of the council members.

Looking at the council members, Tsunade begins to pass around a folder of information, "This is a proposed treaty with Suna. The Kazikage wishes for a trade. One of our shinobi for Suna's prosthetic limb technology. As you all are aware, Suna has the best prosthetic limbs due to their work with puppets and it's an area that we are greatly lacking in."

"But only one of our shinobi for this level of technology?" questioned Hiashi. "There's got to be more to this than meets the eye."

"Did he make a request for which shinobi that they want to trade for?" asked a female council member.

"He is asking for Uzumaki Naruto" bluntly stated Tsunade as she awaited the councils reaction.

"That's ridiculous!" cried Danzo. "She is one of our strongest tools and it would be foolish to give up our only Jinchuuriki for just mere medical technology!"

"But this will give us a chance to get rid of her once and for all!" said another council member. "She is becoming more unstable as time moves on, unless you all have forgotten what happened a year ago?"

(_Flashback_)

Naruto was on a routine patrol with her team, nothing out of the ordinary was going on when all the sudden Naruto's head exploded in pain.

Falling to the forest floor she griped her head in pain and collapsed on the ground.

Concerned her teammates landed on the ground next to her and the team medic moved to her side. But before the medic could even get close to Naruto, her second skin began to bubble and it was almost like Naruto's body was melting on the spot. 

Tentacles of the black material began to rise from Naruto's back as she let out a gasp of pain. Reaching out with her left hand, Naruto's teammates watched with fascination and horror and her arm and fingers elongated and turned into deadly blades. 

Suddenly the entire team was forced to jump back as a blast of orange chakra erupted from Naruto's body, scorching the earth and gathering on her outstretched hand causing her hand and forearm bubbled. With a scream of pain the chakra shot out of her hand, barely missing one of her teammates and causing a line of destruction kilometers long.

Naruto soon blacked out and she was rushed back to Konoha's hospital, leaving a trail of black liquid in her wake.

The doctors at the hospital concluded that it was because Naruto was housing the chakra well of a demon without the demon's consciousness to protect her. Simply put, no human was meant to house that kind of power and if it wasn't for the protective layer of her second skin she would have exploded or erupted in flames.

(_End Flashback_)

"Yes, yes, we all remember that incident" said Danzo annoyed. "But from what I've heard she has come to regain some control over her body since that incident, and even more. Now she can manipulate her body into a weapon. Hell, she could level and entire village on her own! Now why would we want to get rid of that kind of potential? Think of the possibilities of using her in combat or as a breeder and creating a clan with her abilities…"

"THAT IS ENOUPH!" shouted Tsunade slamming her hand on the table and causing a crack to form. "This is not a ploy to get rid of her and I will have not discussion of turning one of MY shinobi into a god damn baby making machine! If you would kindly look at the information you would see why the Kazikage is requesting Naruto!"

The council room was quiet except for the sound of papers being shuffled around as the council members looked over the information.

"He can't be serious" muttered one council member as she finished reading over the information. 

"He is" stated Tsunade. "Already he's convinced Iwa, Kumo, and a couple of the smaller villages to hand over their Jinchuuriki to him in return for the prosthetic limb technology."

"But to gather all the Jinchuuriki in order to protect them from Akatsuki is just ridiculous. How do we know he won't just turn around and use them all as weapons against us?" ask the a female council member with blue hair.

"We don't. All we have is the insurance that the Jinchuuriki won't attack their former homes and try to prevent a future war" said Tsunade with a slight smile. "Of course this also means that if we refuse to allow Naruto to go them we leave ourselves open."

"I take it Naruto has already agreed to this?" asked Hiashi.

"Actually, I haven't asked her yet. I wanted to gauge your reaction to this first" said a grinning Tsunade. "So I take it you will agree to this idea? All in favor raise your hand," 12 hands were raised into the air. "All against this?" 8 hands were raised. 

"Ok that settles that, I will talk to Naruto to see if she is willing to go, dismissed" said Tsunade as she left to room.

XxXxX

Naruto's dream was just getting good when she was woken up by someone entering the room.

"Hokage-sama wishes to see you" said the ANBU member behind his bear mask emotionlessly before he left.

Grumbling Naruto pulled herself out of bed and quickly put on her armor and mask before setting out to the Hokage's tower. 

Quickly making her way to the Hokage's tower Naruto was let into Tsunade's office by the two ANBU guarding the room. Upon entering Naruto was not greeted by the view she expected.

Instead of a drunken Tsunade sitting down looking out the window, Naruto was met by a sober, professional looking Tsunade behind the desk with a small smile on her lips smile.

"Naruto! Glad you could make it here so fast!" smiled Tsunade. "Have a seat and you can take of the mask."

Sitting down in the chair across from Tsunade Naruto removed the mask from her face. Two years of being in the ANBU as well as a growth spurt have changed Naruto's look. She still retained many features of her father, but her face was also beginning to resemble that of her mother, especially in the way her eyes looked.

"Naruto please read this over" said Tsunade handing Naruto the folder containing the information about Gaara's proposal.

Tsunade sat there in silence as Naruto read through the folder and then reread it again. 

Looking up Naruto had an incredulous look on her face, "You can't be serious Oba-chan."

"Oh, but I am. Your boyfriend there is gathering all the jinchuuriki and you're one of them. Of course I'm sure it has something more to do with you than just what you are too" smiled Tsunade as she watched a blush form on Naruto's face before a concerned look spear across it.

"Am I being forced out of Konoha?" nervously asked Naruto.

Walking around the desk Tsunade placed her hand on Naruto's shoulder, "No one is forcing you to do this. The council will allow you to go if you choose, but the choice is up to you. From what I have been told you, along with the other jinchuuriki, will be granted duel citizenship for Suna and your home village. You will always be able to come back here."

Seeing the indecisiveness play across Naruto's face Tsunade said, "Why don't you take the day to make your decision…"

"No," interrupted Naruto. "I'll just waste the day if I took the time to decide anything." Breathing in deeply Naruto closed her eyes before looking directly at Tsunade, "I'll go."

"I thought you would say that" said a smiling Tsunade as she handed Naruto a piece of paper. "Your discharge papers from the ANBU. As of today you are a special jonin of Konoha. As for your rank in Suna, well I don't know" said Tsunade looking Naruto and scratching the back of her head.

"You're hopeless Oba-chan, when do I leave?"

"In a weeks time, Naruto."

XxXxX

Within a week Naruto had said her goodbyes and prepared herself for the prospect of moving to Suna. Currently she was making her way to the main gates, walking at a leisurely pace.

She was covered only in her second skin, but had modified it so that her chest was covered more and that a flap hung down like a dress to the top of her thigh. The second skin still covers everything except her face, but these changes just allow her to walk around outside in it without looking like she's in a spray on suite. 

Around her waist was a belt containing her ninja tools and her kunai holster was strapped to her right leg via two black belts and her Konoha headband was tied around her forehead. She also had her backpack with her, containing a few storage scrolls that housed her possessions and some special ramen ingredients. 

Arriving at the gate she was greeted by Tsunade, Shizune, Anko, Iruka, Jiraiya, and surprisingly Team 7. After giving everyone (except Team 7) a hug good-bye, Tsunade said to Naruto, "Now have a safe trip there and don't get into too much trouble."

"Yea, don't do anything that I wouldn't do!" added Anko with a smile.

Wiping a tear from her eye Naruto said, "Thanks guys, I'll be sure to write and even visit if I can."

"Good luck Naruto-chan" said Shizune.

"Naruto-chan, be safe" said Iruka.

Giving one last hug good-bye Naruto left Konoha and began to make her way to Suna.

On the trip there, she was accompanied by two ANBU members, one with a crows mask and the other with a serpent's mask. For the couple of days they traveled together, barley a handful of words passed between them. 

Reaching the desert that surrounded Suna the group stopped.

"This is where we part ways, Uzumaki-san. We have other matters to attend to" said the man in the crows mask.

"It was an honor serving with you, Fox and good luck" said the serpent ANBU as they both saluted Naruto before they disappeared in a blink of an eye. 

Turning back the vast expanse of desert in front of her Naruto readjusted her backpack before setting out across the sands with a smile on her face.

At the gates of Suna, two chunin guards stood watch looking out over the desert. It was midday and the hot noon sun was beating down on their heads. In front of them was the desert of Suna, partially obscured because of the sand being kicked up by the wind. 

"Looks like a sandstorm is forming" said the guard on the right in a bored voice.

"Yay" replied the second guard in a sarcastic tone of voice. "Just the thing to make guard duty so much more enjoyable."

"Isn't there supposed to be someone coming in today from Konoha?" asked the first guard.

"Yea, some chick from what I heard. One of the Jinchuuriki that Kazikage-sama is bringing in here."

"I didn't here that" said the first guard in a surprised tone of voice.

"Yea" said the second guard as she shifted in place. "I don't know who it is, but apparently she is around Kazikage-sama's age."

The first guard was about to say something again when he caught sight of a figure walking towards the gate through the billowing sand.

Tensing the guards prepared themselves for the worst. The figure, female, was dressed all in black and wasn't shielding her face from the blowing sand, almost as if it wasn't even bothering her. 

In reality if you looked closely at Naruto you would see that she had an almost completely invisible layer of chakra shielding her face from the sand. 

Walking up to the gates she stopped when she was about ten feet from the gate. 'Something's off here.'

Almost as soon as she thought this a swirl of sand appeared between her and the two guards, startling them while Naruto just stood there impassively.

The sand cleared revealing the red headed figure of Gaara, dresses in his Kazikage robes.

Smiling Naruto said, "I'm sorry Gaara-kun, did I take you away from a meeting?"

"Actually, you did" replied Gaara in a monotone voice with a slight smile on his lips.

Closing the distance between them and to the shock of the two guards, Naruto walked up to Gaara and the two of them embraced in a hug. Naruto was about half a head shorter than Gaara and they both smiled warmly at each other.

"Let's get going inside. You are the last one to arrive" said Gaara as he led Naruto by the hand, past the still stunned guards into Suna.

"Did he just…" said guard one said in a stunned voice.

"Yes…" said an equally sunned guard two.

"Smiled?" they both said simultaneously.

XxXxX

Walking to the Kazikage's tower Naruto lead her to one of the meeting rooms. Inside sat the Sun council along with the other Jinchuuriki who arrived before Naruto. 

The council was seated at the head of the table while the jinchuuriki were sitting in order for their bunji. 

Gaara seated Naruto in the ninth chair as he took his seat at the head of the table. 

"Now that we are all here, introductions are in order" said Gaara standing up again as the Suna council left the room.

"I am Sabaku no Gaara, the Kazikage of Sunagakure and jinchuuriki of the Ichibi no Shukaku" Gaara said as he sat back down.

The girl with blond hair and cat like eyes next to him in a black outfit and a white strip across her waist said, "I'm Nii Yugito, former ANBU and now jonin of Kumogakure and jinchuuriki of the Nibi no Nekomata."

The next guy to talk was an elderly man with a black mark running across his face, "I am Sohma Kakashi, not currently associated with any village and the jinchuuriki of the Yonbi no Sokou.

Next a man around twenty-eight years old dressed in a gray jumpsuit with armor and pockets built in and with sort silver hair and silver eyes spoke up, "My name is Koizumi Makoto, jonin of Yukigakure and container of the Gobi no Houkou."

After him a thirty year old woman in brown armor with brown hair tied into six different buns and four marks on her cheaks said, "I'm Nakamura Asuka, special jonin of Kusagakure and container ofRokubi no Raijuu."

After she finished speaking a man about eighteen years old wearing brown pants and a tight black shirt that went up over his mouth, green hair, and a brown streak running down his nose said, "My name is Kuroda Fukagawa, former Hunter-nin, now jonin of Iwagakure and holder of Shichibi no Kaku

After him there were two five year old twins, one boy and one girl. They were both dressed in a plain brown shirt and black pants, had blue hair and red eyes. The girl spoke up first, "I am Fujiwara Yin of Takigakure and have half of the Hachibi no Orochi." Her brother spoke up after her and said, "And I'm Fujiwara Yang, also of Takigakure, and have the other half of the Hachibi."

After the two kids were finished, Naruto spoke up. "I an Uzumaki Naruto, former ANBU now special jonin of Konohagakure and container of the essence of the Kyuubi no Youko."

"Good now that we are all introduced to one another lets get down to business. The reason why I've gathered you all here is because of a grave threat not only to our villages, but to ourselves as well" said Gaara looking around the table.

"There is an organization called Akatsuki made up of S-class missing-nins that is collection all the Bijuu. They will try to capture us and forcefully take our demons from us. I am sure you are all aware that this will kill you if it happens."

"Yea so, why bring us here?" asked Asuka.

"Weren't you paying attention? Pitiful" muttered Fukagawa.

"What was that you said dirt lover?" growled Asuka her eyes taking on a yellow/orange glow and her pupils taking the shape of a lightning bolt.

"You heard me just fine. If you so strong then why not go back to your little village!" responded Fukagawa, his eyes going black and pupils turning white.

"Enough!" said Gaara rising to his feet, his eyes turning yellow and black as the sand in the room began to stir and move around.

But they didn't listen to him and soon the other members at the table were drawn into the argument, leaving only Naruto, Yin, and Yang out of the conversation. After a few minuets of heated argument, it looked like things were about to explode in actual violence when Naruto decided to do something.

Closing her eyes, Naruto, snapped them open reveling her blood red eyes and revealed a massive amount of killing intent and demonic chakra. Slamming her hand onto the table it shattered into countless pieces and she glared at everyone in the room.

This display of power forced everyone to calm down just as a team of Suna ANBU appeared in the room.

"It's fine, leave us" commanded Gaara and the ANBU quickly left the room.

"Thank you Naruto-chan" said Gaara gesturing to Naruto before he continued. "Now that we are all settled down I will tell you some ground rules for staying here. Rule one, don't kill anyone unless you're attacked and rule two, don't loose control."

Looking at the clock in the room Gaara continued, "It's lunch time so why don't we go get something to eat." Looking down at the broken table he said, "I was going to have food brought here, but we are in need of a new table. Follow me please."

XxXxX

Naruto may seem like her personality has become a little darker and that she's more serious, but that's because she's been in the ANBU and because of memories she's absorbing from the Kyuubi.

Please tell me what you think!

Ja ne!


	10. Chapter 10

Deceiving Appearance

Disclaimer- I don't own this story or the characters in it.

XxXxX

List of the Jinchuuriki

1: Sabaku no Gaara- the Kazikage of Sunagakure and jinchuuriki of the Ichibi no Shukaku

2: Nii Yugito- She blond hair and cat like eyes and dressed in a black outfit with a white strip across her waist. She's a former ANBU and now jonin of Kumogakure and jinchuuriki of the Nibi no Nekomata.

4: Sohma Kakashi- An elderly man with a black mark running across his face he is not currently associated with any village and is the jinchuuriki of the Yonbi no Sokou.

5: Koizumi Makoto- Around twenty-eight years old he is dressed in a gray jumpsuit with armor and pockets built in and with sort silver hair and is ajonin of Yukigakure and the container of the Gobi no Houkou.

6: Nakamura Asuka- She's a thirty year old woman in brown armor with brown hair tied into six different buns and four marks on her cheaks. She is a special jonin of Kusagakure and the container of Rokubi no Raijuu.

7: Kuroda Fukagawa- Around eighteen years old and wearing brown pants and a tight black shirt that covers his mouth, green hair, and a brown streak running down his nose he is a former Hunter-nin, now jonin of Iwagakure and the container of Shichibi no Kaku

8: Fujiwara Yin and Yang- five year old identical twins Yin is a girl and Yang is a boy. They both dress in plain brown shirts and black pants, have blue hair and red eyes. They are from Takigakure and have the Hachibi no Orochi split between them.

9: Uzumaki Naruto- she uses her second skin to act as a form fitting suite (but not so form fitting that it looks sprayed on) with a skirt-like part at her waist and added coverage on her chest. She is a former ANBU now special jonin of Konohagakure and is the container of the essence of the Kyuubi no Youko.

XxXxX

"Speaking"

'Thought'

"**Demon/jutsus**"

XxXxX

As the sunlight light up the room, the figure under the bed sheets groans as she tried to shut out the rays of light.

This was, however, to no avail. As anyone who has traveled in the suna desert, when the sunlight wants to get in, there is nothing anyone can do to stop it.

After a few minuets of desperately trying to go back to sleep, Naruto gave up, and with an exasperated sigh she threw off the covers.

Still groggy she sat up in bed and took in her surroundings. The room was large, but not too big. The quean size bed leaned up against the wall with room on either side for a simple night stand. Across from the bed was two doors separated by a simple wooden dresser.

The door on the right led to a closet while to one on the left lead to a bathroom. To the right of the bed there was an open space with a door leading out to the hallway.

There were no pictures hanging up on the walls an there was only one photograph of a blond and a redhead on the dresser.

It would surprise anyone to know that this sparsely decorated room belonged to the supreme ruler of Suna. But then again, if you knew Gaara, then you would probably expect the room to look this way.

Stretching her arms above her head, Naruto stretched to work out the kinks that developed from the night before. Gaara had left early that morning before the fist rays of sun were even on the horizon. He had told her that there were some last minuet details that needed to be taken care of, but Naruto was half asleep at the time so she didn't remember exactly what he said.

As she continued to stretch, the bed sheet fell from her chest and pooled around her waist. Here second skin was retracted, revealing her seemingly flawless skin and the black lines running accost her body like an exotic tattoo.

From downstairs she heard the sound of people moving around and food being prepared.

'Guess the others are up' thought Naruto to herself.

It had been decided during yesterday's meeting that, while the question of how long they would all stay in suna was up for debate, they would be staying at the Kazekage's mansion. This was decided on for their safety as well as the safety for the fest of the village.

If one of them lost control, or they were attacked by Akatsuki, the grounds of the mansion were big enough to hopefully contain the damage before it spread to the rest of the village. Likewise, with all the Jinchuuriki in one place, they could easily gang up together for mutual defense if they needed to.

Getting out of bed, Naruto padded barefoot to the bathroom to wash up before heading downstairs.

As she finished washing up she put a simple black hair tie to hold her yellow and orange hair in a simple ponytail. Steeping out of the bathroom she let her second skin flow around her, forming the black outfit that she wore the other day.

Reaching the kitchen, Naruto saw that she was not the last person up. Makoto, Yugito, Asuka, and Fukagawa were all milling around in the kitchen, each one of them getting their own breakfast while ignoring the others. They briefly paused to take notice of Naruto as she entered the room but soon went back to their food.

The tension in the air was unmistakable. While on one hand they were all Jinchuuriki and as such knew the heavy burdens each other had to carry, many of them had already met before…on the battlefield.

Naruto met Makoto about a year ago. She was assigned to assassinate a target and he and his team were in charge of protecting the person.

The resulting encounter was…anticlimactic. Thanks to his demon, Makoto was able to cast extremely high class genjutsu like they were nothing.

He was hoping to catch Naruto in one and then slit her throat before she didn't even know what hit her. And he succeeded.

She had no idea that she was in a genjutsu until the serrated chain that was wrapped around her neck cut into her.

However, thanks to Naruto's regenerative powers as well as the added protection from the second skin, the chain caused no lasting damage and it broke Naruto free of the genjutsu.

Not taking any chances Naruto blew herself up. Not literally, of course, but used a scaled down move that, if used as a suicide move on her part, could in theory take out an entire village.

Even scaled down, the resulting fireball charred a good portion of the surrounding forest, along with the target and two of Makoto's team members. He and his surviving teammate were severely burnt and Naruto was left smoking and exhausted.

It's wasn't the brightest move on her part, leaving herself open if there were more enemies lurking around, but it got the job done for the situation.

As for the other Jinchuuriki, she had not met them in person before, but had heard about them through their reputations, the bingo books, and first hand accounts. Just the other month, Asuka took on five Konoha jonin and killed all but one, leaving him heavily injured before an ANBU team arrived to save him.

All the other Jinchuuriki had similar stories, making the living arrangements a tad uncomfortable.

Soon the others came down, with only the twins still asleep in their bed. The added members only increased the tension in the room and soon it was thick enough to be cut with a knife.

Somehow, Naruto found her self next to Makoto and he eyed her suspiciously while she ate some fruit.

Noticing this, Naruto decided to try to break the ice. "So…feeling better?" she asked glancing at him.

Instantly the other occupants of the room froze as they waited to see what would happen.

Makoto eyes flashed with rage before he grudgingly answered, "Yes."

Still trying to break the ice Naruto continued, "Ah…so…tired to cop a feel on any other girls lately?"

"Wait, what?!"

"Oh come on" said Naruto with a playful smile, "I'm sure you did something like that to me."

Confused and off balanced Makoto said, "I did no such thing, I was trying to cut your head off!"

"Sure, sure lover boy" said a still smiling Naruto. The other Jinchuuriki who had heard about their previous encounter stifled chuckles while the other were left in the dark.

"And how do I know I'm really talking to you? You're so good with genjutsu that you could be coping a fell of Yugito-san or Asuka-san at this very moment?"

"I-I would never!" stuttered out Makoto as he desperately tried to figure out what Naruto was doing.

"Fukagawa-san then?"

At this the other Jinchuuriki couldn't keep their laughter in and soon they were all bursting into laughter. Realizing that Naruto had just effectively broke the tension in the room, Makoto let a small smile grace his lips and he chuckled.

"What ever you say sparky-chan, just don't go blowing up the house."

"Sure thing, candle-kun."

XxXxX

At around mid-afternoon Gaara returned to the house from his meeting with the Suna council and his Kazikage duties.

As he walked up to the front door he didn't really know what to expect. Jugging from the interactions between the group yesterday and the pent up hostilities they held, he was grateful that at least the Kazikage mansion still had it's walls.

Opening the door he was not prepared for what he saw.

While he wasn't expecting to see the furniture destroyed and weapons lying everywhere, that possibility wasn't completely removed from his mind ether.

Instead he was greeted with a clean and orderly house, just as he left it.

Moving inside he heard laughter coming from the family room to the left.

Making his way there he found all the Jinchuuriki sitting on the couches, chairs, and the floor laughing and talking with each other.

As he entered the group greeted him but soon went back to the story that Asuka was telling.

"As I was saying, I was assigned to take out this one business guy from god knows where. Anyways the fat man got word that his competitor had hired me to take him out so he hired a chunin team from Oto to protect him."

Pausing her story for dramatic effect she looked at the group as Gaara took a seat next to Naruto, "Well they were in for a surprise when I showed up. These guys from Oto had no clue what they were going up against so when I stuck, they where dumbfounded."

"I started out my attack by zapping the fat man right in the middle of his protection squad. He has so much juice in him that he actually exploded, covering the Oto nin's in his guts. The look on their faces was priceless. They couldn't believe what just happened and they began to panic. Two of them started to run around, one was puking his guts out, and the other one was frozen in place."

"With a flick of the wrist and a few well placed explosive tags all of them were dead except for the one frozen in place. Now he was not only covered in the fat mans guts, but the gust of his own team. And to top it off, he pissed himself!" said Asuka with a sadistic laugh.

"So what did you do to him?" asked Kakashi with a slight smile.

"Absolutely nothing" laughed Asuka. "He stayed there frozen for three days until a bear came and ate him. He didn't even put up a struggle with the bear, that's how shaken up he was."

With her story finished Asuka started to laugh again and the others let out their chuckles or let smiles play on their faces.

Turning to Gaara Naruto said, "Will you were gone we began to trade stories of our past experiences. It turns out we all have a bad sense of humor…although Asuka's does seam to be the worst."

"Hey I resent that. I say my sense of humor is a proud result of the environment I grew up it" proclaimed Asuka as she pumped her chest with her fist.

"Why am I always surrounded by psycho women…" muttered Fukagawa.

"Because god hates you Iwa boy."

The room lapsed into a conferrable silence for a moment before Gaara spoke up.

"The council and I have come up with some plans that could be effective from keeping us away from Akatsuki. The first option is to stay here in Suna. The second option is to go to one of Konoha's fortified outpost that they're willing to let us use. The first option, while allows us to have the entire security of a village on our side, poses a significant risk of collateral damage to the village. The second option allows us to work together but will group us all in one place for Akatsuki to attack."

Pausing his speech he looked the other Jinchuuriki in the face before continuing, "The third option is for us to scatter. To cut all ties to out former villages and move independently or in small groups of two or three. If we choose this path then no one can know were we are, not even each other, and we will have to spend the rest of our lives on the run."

Before anyone could speak, Gaara said, "I want you all to think about this. The council has given us a week to decide so spend the next few days thinking about this."

Having effectively killed all future conversation the group dispersed and went their separate ways.

Naruto followed Gaara back to the room they were sharing and entered as he was removing the Kazekage robes.

Sitting down on the side of the bed and watching him in silence for a few minutes, Naruto finally asked, "What do you want to do?"

Sitting down next to her and looking at the floor, Gaara said, "I…don't know. I want to protect my village at all cost, but if I leave it will feel like I'm abandoning it and if I stay I know I will be putting it in undue amount of danger all because of me…"

"I-I know what you mean" said Naruto in soft voice as she leaned her head on Gaara's shoulder. "I still love Konoha and would still give up almost anything to become the Hokage, but I know that if I stayed there I would be putting the village and everyone I cared for in great danger. That's why I agreed to come here in the first place, so I understand what you are going through."

"But cheer up Gaara-kun, there is still the fourth option that I'm sure the others would love."

Turning his head, Gaara looked into Naruto's blue eyes.

"Instead of running from Akatsuki, we could take the fight to them."

This brought a smile to Gaara's lips and as the sand began to lightly swirl around them, they shared a kiss.

XxXxX

In a dark cave two figures stood in the shadows.

Surrounding them were translucent projections of seven other people, all dressed in the same black robs with red clouds on them.

"The situation has changed" said Pein, on of the two people who was attending the meeting in the flesh.

"The Jinchuuriki have all gathered together in Suna to try to protect themselves from us. This will require us to rethink our strategy on how to get them."

"My sources tell me that they are discussing what course of actions they should take" side the projection of Sasori.

"It will be a problem if they stay within the walls of Suna, but if they leave then they will be ours for the taking."

"Any clue as to where these fuckers will go?" asked Hidan.

"Konoha has offered the use of one of their fortified outposts and there is the option that they will try to scatter and go into hiding."

"There is also the possibility that they will try to attack us head on" said Pein. "They have been fighting for their entire lives so the thought of running away must be particularly repugnant to them."

"Will we be able to handle them if they attack us all at once?" ask Konan from Pein's right.

"Yes, and if that happens then your previous assignments for capturing the Jinchuuriki will stand. Tobi you will aid in whatever battles occur unless they somehow have the Sanbi attack along with them. Understood?" said Pein as he looked at the assembled members of Akatsuki.

"Understood" responded the gathered missing-nins as they faded from view.

Turning to Pein, Konan said, "And what if they choose to run?"

"Then we will hunt them down until there is no where they can hid. They can not escape God forever."

XxXxX

Two days latter the Jinchuuriki could be found sitting around the dinning room take. They had discussed what they wanted to do and were now awaiting Gaara to return from the Kazekage's tower.

Upon entering the house, Gaara was met with all the Jinchuuriki waiting for him and while he was expecting this happen, part of him was dreading the encounter that would soon happen.

"We have talked about the…situation and have come to a consensus" said Kakashi looking at Gaara directly in the eyes as he sat down at the table.

"We reject your plans. Instead we like the plan proposed by Naruto-san instead."

Hearing this Gaara let a small smile form on his lips, "Good, because I like her plan too."

"There is just two matters that need to be attended to before we can set out" said Yugito from her place near Gaara. "On is where can Akatsuki be found. And the second is what will happen to Yin and Yang. They are too young and inexperienced to handle this sort of conflict."

"We where hoping that they could stay here is Suna under constant protection and be trained just in case the shit hit's the fan" said Fukagawa.

"Understandable" said Gaara from his seat. "I will work with the council to set up their protection and training and to find where Akatsuki is currently located."

"That part won't be a problem" said Naruto from her seat to the left of Gaara.

"Akatsuki wants us right? So all we have to do is to stand out in the open with a huge sign saying, 'Come and get us!' and hopefully they will come running."

"But what if they suspect that it's a trap and don't come?" asked Yugito.

"Then we make it seem like it isn't, if you can find out what country Akatsuki is in, all we have to do is start traveling to that country. It would seam as if we know their location so they will move to intercept us" said Naruto with confidence.

"That could work" said Makoto. "Even if they suspect something, they would still want to take us down, so they would come… I think that it might just work."

"I agree" said Gaara thinking the idea through in his head. "I will make arrangements with the council and collect the information. With any luck, we will be moving out within the next week."

XxXxX

This story is nearing the end! Only a couple more chapters till it's finished.

Soon the battle with Akatsuki will commence. Who will live and who will die? While I'm not taking a poll I will listen to you're suggestions. So please review!

Ja ne!


	11. Chapter 11

Deceiving Appearance

Disclaimer- I don't own this story or the characters in it.

**SPOILER ALERT! **

**If you are not up to date with the manga then STOP, go to onemanga . com and get up to date before reading this chapter. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! **

XxXxX

List of the Jinchuuriki

1: Sabaku no Gaara- the Kazikage of Sunagakure and jinchuuriki of the Ichibi no Shukaku

2: Nii Yugito- She blond hair and cat like eyes and dressed in a black outfit with a white strip across her waist. She's a former ANBU and now jonin of Kumogakure and jinchuuriki of the Nibi no Nekomata.

4: Sohma Kakashi- An elderly man with a black mark running across his face he is not currently associated with any village and is the jinchuuriki of the Yonbi no Sokou.

5: Koizumi Makoto- Around twenty-eight years old he is dressed in a gray jumpsuit with armor and pockets built in and with sort silver hair and is a jonin of Yukigakure and the container of the Gobi no Houkou.

6: Nakamura Asuka- She's a thirty year old woman in brown armor with brown hair tied into six different buns and four marks on her cheeks. She is a special jonin of Kusagakure and the container of Rokubi no Raijuu.

7: Kuroda Fukagawa- Around eighteen years old and wearing brown pants and a tight black shirt that covers his mouth, green hair, and a brown streak running down his nose he is a former Hunter-nin, now jonin of Iwagakure and the container of Shichibi no Kaku

8: Fujiwara Yin and Fujiwara Yang- five year old identical twins, Yin is a girl and Yang is a boy. They both dress in plain brown shirts and black pants, have blue hair and red eyes. They are from Takigakure and have the Hachibi no Orochi split between them.

9: Uzumaki Naruto- she uses her second skin to act as a form fitting suite (but not so form fitting that it looks sprayed on) with a skirt-like part at her waist and added coverage on her chest. She is a former ANBU now special jonin of Konohagakure and is the container of the essence of the Kyuubi no Youko.

XxXxX

"Speaking"

'Thought'

"**Demon/jutsus**"

XxXxX

Dawn was fast approaching the desert where Sunagakure was located. Already the pre-morning light painted the sky orange and red, promising another hot day in the desert.

In the pre-morning light desert animals hunted and were hunted, completely oblivious to the hidden village right next to them. A lizard moved close to the gate, intent on catching a smaller lizard who was right in front of him when the stone walls that made up the gate cracked open, startling both the hunter and the pray and causing them to scamper away.

Twenty-eight individuals, all seemingly the same height, and dressed in brown cloaks with hoods covering their faces steeped out into the desert. Their cloaks were baggy enough to hide the gender and equipment the people were carrying.

Without so much as a head nod or a hand signal, the twenty-eight individuals broke up into four groups of seven and took off in four different directions away from Suna.

Off in the desert, unnoticed by the departing ninja or even the local wildlife, a man emerged from the desert sand.

This was no ordinary man, surrounding his head and shoulders appeared to be the jaws of a venues fly trap and his skin was half black and half white. Along with his yellow eyes and green hair, this man was instantly recognizable.

Zetsu watched as the four groups departed Suna, eyeing the ninjas with intense scrutiny. As they left his sights and disappeared into the desert the fly trap surrounding him closed and he once again disappeared into the sand.

Just a few feet away a desert lizard ambushed a scorpion, completely unaware of the hawk descending upon it.

XxXxX

Inside a stone room Zetsu rose silently from the ground. This time, instead of meeting the transparent bodies of the other Akatsuki members, Zetsu came face to face with all of the members in the flesh and blood.

Sitting on the chairs spread throughout the room in a circle each of the members were waiting, fully armed and prepared for a battle of epic proportions.

Kisame sat off to one side, cleaning what appeared to be meat from his sword, Hidan was sharpening his scythe, Deidara was molding his clay into different animals, and Pein was standing next to the sitting Konan…with all six of his bodies.

"Report Zetsu" said Pein from the body that most of the members saw all the time.

"They have left Suna. Just as reported, there were three anbu teams also poising as them who also left. **They were all used the transformation jutsu and were cloaked in multiple genjutsu.** But I know which one the real team was. I marked them with my tracking jutsu so they should be easy to find. **They also deployed other teams in the middle of the night**. Three other anbu teams and 6 jonin and chunin teams."

"Good, Sasori what about your spy in the other villages?"

"Konoha has sent out ten anbu teams and twelve jonin and chunin teams lead by Jiraiya, Iwa sent out eight anbu teams and six jonin teams, and Kumo deployed 10 anbu teams and 10 jonin and chunin teams. From what I've gathered, they have all split up but will converge in grass country before coming of us."

"Will any teams from Kusa be joining them?" asked Konan from her seat.

"I am unsure" replied Sasori stiffly, "My spy there did not have access to the right information. But most likely they will deploy around three anbu teams and at least five chunin and jonin teams."

"This poses a serious problem" said Pein.

"You're damn strait this poses a serious fucking problem" spat Hidan from his seat. "How are we supposed to take on so many fucking high level heathens at the same fucking time!?"

"What about using the Ame shinobi, yeah?" asked Deidara from his seat next to Sasori.

"We can not, once the other nations know for certain that Ame is in league with us they will all attack at once."

Pein looked over at Tobi before continuing, "Even if we had one of the great shinobi villages on our side, it would still spell defeat for us."

"The only option is to grab the jinchuuriki before they meet up with the other teams. Zetsu, go and retrieve the twins containing the Hachibi and bring them to the main base in Ame. Tobi, you will carry out your assignment of grabbing the Sanbi. I trust you two can carry out your capture without any backup. The rest of us will retrieve the remaining jinchuuriki and we will seal them all together here."

As Zetsu once again was swallowed up by the earth, the Pein that was talking closed his eyes and began to concentrate. Holding his hands in the ram sign he picked up the tracking signature that Zetsu put on the Jinchuuriki.

XxXxX

As the sun began to set the jinchuuriki found themselves moving through the forest on the edge of the desert.

They still had the cloaks on but removed the hoods and genjutsus covering them and as they settled down and began to make camp the group split up to gather wood, water, set traps, and other preparations for making camp.

"Their late" said Gaara staring back at the way they had come.

About three hours after they left Suna they met up with two four man anbu teams who left Suna the previous night. They were to flank the jinchuuriki as they traveled, but were supposed to reunite with them once they made camp.

"Could they have gotten held up somewhere?" asked Naruto

"Or taken out?" asked Asuka.

"Possibly" said Gaara, "But I highly doubt that we would have been unaware of their demise. They were the best teams that I personally picked out."

"Then what could be the hold up?" asked Asuka.

Gaara didn't respond and soon Naruto and Asuka left him to continue to set up camp.

As Naruto was preparing the traps at the edge of camp, she saw someone walking through the woods in the distance.

Instantly she crouched low to the ground and gave out an animal sound, alerting the others of the presence of the stranger.

As she got closer her details became clearer and clearer and the jinchuuriki prepared themselves for the worst.

From the distance, all they could ascertain was that it was a red headed woman walking on the ground with a backpack.

As she approached, they could see that the backpack was full with a sleeping bag and umbrella attached to the outside and she was dressed in plain black pants and a loose green and tan top and a worn brown traveler's cloak.

Closer still and the details of her person came into focus, like how her hair was tied up into an unusual bun on the top of her head with the rest of her hair hanging down flat on her head and the stud-like piercings (three on each cheek on one in the center of her nose).

But as the woman approached closer still, Naruto gasped for breath and whispered, "Mother?"

There was an audible snap as all the jinchuuriki all turned their heads to look at Naruto.

"Um…Isn't your mum dead and all?" said Fukagawa awkwardly.

"I thought so. All that was known was that she disappeared shortly after I was born. They found her blood in a clearing along with hair and a sign of a fight. From what the investigation brought up she was outside of the village for some reason and was killed by an attacking ninja."

"So she could have faked her death to run away" said Kakashi.

"No, too much blood at the scene" said Naruto stunned.

"Well whatever happened she's here now, or at least someone who is trying to look like her is here. What do you guys see?" asked Asuka.

"I don't detect any genjutsus" said Makoto staring at the Kushina look-a-like.

"I don't sense anything wrong either" said Yugito.

"Same here" said Kakashi.

"Noting out of the ordinary here, and no smell of blood either" said Gaara from next to Naruto.

Just as Kushina was about to pass the camp and the hidden jinchuuriki, Naruto emerged from hiding, startling Kushina and causing her to get in a defensive stance with a kunai in her hand. Her hazel eyes narrowing then widening as she saw who was in front of her

At first she tried to dispel a genjutsu, but when nothing changed, her mouth fell open and the kunai in her hand fell forgotten to the ground.

"N-Naruto?" she whispered.

"O-Okasan?" meekly responded Naruto.

In a flash her bag was on the ground and Kushina had Naruto in her arms, tears streaming down both of their eyes.

Quietly, without alerting the two women, the rest of the jinchuuriki returned to camp, letting the mother and daughter to catch up.

The two stood there embracing and crying for a few minutes before either one of them could speak.

"W-what are you doing out here?" asked a still upset Kushina. "I-I mean, this isn't the Land of Fire so…"

Snuggling into her mother's embrace a little more Naruto replied, "I'm on a mission."

Suddenly she pulled back, but still holding onto Kushina and with a look of questioning, concern, and hurt she asked, "And why are you here? I was told you were killed. Why did you leave me?" Naruto asked as fresh tears began to pore down her face.

Pulling her daughter into another deep hug Kushina began to talk as she rubbed circles into Naruto's back to comfort her.

"I never wanted to leave. I was ostracized from the village because I stood by you. One day, about a month after you were born, I was outside the walls gathering some herbs and was attacked. I tried to fend them off but failed."

A tear rolled down her cheek as she continued, "I thought I died, but someone found me and brought me back to life. I'm sure it was Konoha shinobi who attacked me, or it could have been Iwa or even Kumo shinobi. Whoever it was, I couldn't return to Konoha. I knew that the third would protect you and I couldn't take a one month old baby on the run with me so…"

"So you had to leave. And you've been wandering around for the last 14 years?" asked a teary eyed Naruto.

"Yes…Oh, I'm so sorry baby. I never wanted to leave you but I had no choice" cried Kushina, pulling Naruto closer as the both cried together.

XxXxX

Back at the camp the other jinchuuriki finished setting the tents and traps.

No one talked about what was happening in the woods a little bit away from them, but Gaara was constantly on guard, watching the area where Naruto was with his third eye made out of sand.

Things were quiet for a few minutes, but suddenly the air pressure increased and the audible popping sound and smoke of a summing jutsu filled the campsite.

There, surrounding the jinchuuriki was the twelve members of Akatsuki.

Within a flash, the entire area erupted in battle.

Rocketing up on a cloud of sand, Gaara was followed into the sky by Deidara on a bird of clay.

On the ground, Hidan flung his scythe at a distracted Yugito, scratching her left shoulder.

Whirling to face him, the purple chakra of the Nibi was already being to cover her. Sinisterly smiling, Hidan licked her blood off of his scythe and began his ritual.

Kisame charged at Kakashi, taking a swipe at the elderly man.

In an act that would seam impossible for his age, Kakashi flipped over the shark-nin's sword while running through two different set of hand seals (one on each hand).

Landing on his feet he sent out an air bullet jutsu. But unlike a normal air bullet, this one had electricity coursing through it, adding a lethal shock to the winds cutting and crushing power.

Dogging the blast, Kisame mentally noted the line of damage the one jutsu caused.

Flashing through his own hand seals, Kisame brought a wall of water at Kakashi, only to be countered by a wave of mud and flames. When the water hit the mud and fire, it was turned to steam, covered the entire battlefield. As he lost visibility, Kisame was forced to doge out of the way of the oncoming mud on sound alone.

The steam was heavy and decreased the visibility of both the combatants, but like any good Kiri in Kisame could still function even if he was blind. As he approached Kakashi, Kakashi condensed the steam into a water bullet and nailed Kisame, only to have him turn into a puddle of water.

Rearing around, Kakashi wasn't able to move fast enough to completely avoid Kisame's attack. His entire left side was on fire as the skin peeled off and his chakra significantly drained.

Desperate he called upon the Yonbi, but as his demon healed his wounds, Kisame smashed his sword into him, draining his chakra further before taking a poisoned laced kunai and driving it into his shoulder.

As the paralyzing poison and the chakra draining properties of the sword began to overcome Kakashi, he let out one final attack. Erupting from his raged lips came a blast of air, water, fire, and electricity, all compact together in one air bullet jutsu.

If Kisame was just a centimeter closer, he would have lost his head, but he was able to dodge just in time, feeling a good portion of the hair on this head get taken off, but otherwise unharmed.

The jutsu cared on into the air where it exploded with a tremendous boom as it hit one of Gaara's tendrils of sand.

His energy spent and the poison taking hold, Kakashi passed out.

XxXxX

Up in the air things were not looking well for the jinchuuriki. Outnumbered by the Akatsuki members, they were getting picked off one by one.

Yugito was down as so was Asuka, taken out by Kakuzu.

Makoto was surrounded by an army of puppets and was glowing white, and Fukagawa was underground, already transformed and covered in brownish chakra but was slowly getting beaten by the six Peins.

Gaara sent out more tendrils of sand at Deidara as he worked the ground blow him into sand when he had to dodge a flock of razor sharp bird shaped origami. Some impacted his sand armor and cut deep gashes into it. Deeper than he thought paper would cause.

Suddenly one of his tendrils of sand blew up in a fierce explosion that sent out a massive shockwave.

The tree aerial combatants were all knocked back as Gaara noted that the blast came from the now fallen Kakashi.

'We've underestimated them' he thought to himself grimly.

Most of the jinchuuriki were disabled and soon the rest would be too. As for Naruto, he had no idea what had happened to her.

Deciding to make a break for it Gaara blasted all of his excess sand at Konan and Deidara, hitting them both while they were still temporarily stunned.

Using his to his advantage, Gaara clenched his fist.

The sand covering Deidara began to crush him, but on of his exploding spiders saved his chest from being crushed by blasting away the sand, burning him, but making it so the sand only destroyed one of his arms and crippled the bird he was riding.

Konan was not so lucky and the sand crushed her chest and paper wings.

But instead of blood, all that happened was that her body turned into pieces paper, reforming itself back into Konan on the ground, with some parts badly crumpled.

Not wasting anymore time, Gaara took off in the direction Naruto was, hoping that he could at least save her and the two of them could escape. Gaara knew that if they weren't already subdued, Makoto and Fukagawa would soon be.

Quickly he reached the area, but what he found caused him to stop dead in his tracks.

Naruto was still in the arms of Kushina, but it wasn't Kushina. Rather it was another one of Pein's bodies, having the hair turn back orange and the eyes showing the Rinnegan. But what really startled Gaara was Naruto.

Her head was tilted at an unnatural angle showing that is was broken.

XxXxX

Naruto was in the middle of a mother daughter bonding session when she felt the Akatsuki members arrive. Startled she looked up at Kushina to see that it wasn't Kushina.

It was her body and face alright, but the hair was orange and the eyes, they were not her mother's eyes.

With a snap Naruto felt her neck break and she lost conciseness as her regenerative abilities took over to fix her neck.

As the darkness overtook her, Naruto found herself in a place where she hoped to never see again. The Kyuubi's cage.

The golden bared gate was still there and as she looked around she noted that the tag in the center that said seal was back.

Steeping closer to the gate she peered into the darkness to see…nothing.

"Just as I was told, he isn't here anymore" laughed Naruto to herself.

Walking right up to the gate she peered into the black void when a she came face to face with a monster.

"**Did you really think that I would be gone?**" asked the Kyuubi almost laughing.

"The Sambi said you were gone, so yea I was kinda hoping that you were gone forever" replied Naruto as she stepped back from the cage.

But as she stepped back, bubbling arms of red chakra enveloped her and kept her pushed up against the bars.

"**And what would the Sambi know about it? Yes you've absorbed parts of me, some of my memories and my power. But did you think that I would go away? I am timeless and immortal, and it will take a lot more that that little injury you got to get rid of me completely."**

"**But, as you humans say, I was dead for some time. But I'm better now. Did you miss me? Hahaha!**"

"Not particularly. I was doing just fine on my own with you're chakra well. I guess I don't need your personality to go with it."

"**Hahaha! Ah, still the sense of humor, even after you've gotten some of my memories. Ah, hehehe, that was good. You don't get it, do you? I am a force of nature. Destruction is what I do and I love to do it. My personality, as you so kindly put it, IS my chakra well. And my chakra well IS my personality. Afraid you can't have one without the other.**"

"Great…Well, now that your back do you think you could speed up the healing process. There are some bad guys I really want to kill and my friends are in danger."

"**Oh, you mean that person who took over your mother's corps. Yea, that's was funny to watch if you knew what would happen.**"

Gritting her teeth in rage, Naruto scowled, "Glad to see that you're finding it so amusing."

"**But enough kidding around for now**" said the Kyuubi turning serious, "**Me and you have to work together as…partners**" the Kyuubi spat out, "**if we are to remain alive and free, or at least as free as a can be when sealed inside of you're miserable corps.**"

"And how will this work?"

"**You will be able to draw out all nine tails of my chakra and remain somewhat in control. Already with your, what do you call it, 'second skin' you can survive using it. You will be able to use it at first for probably fifteen to twenty minutes without dieing, but as you get used to it you should be able to handle it longer…I think. That, or this will blow you up in a massive fire ball and that could quite possible set the atmosphere of the planet on fire. So, are you ready?**"

Taking a deep breath, Naruto said, "Hit me."

XxXxX

In the real world Gaara had just come across what looked to be Naruto's body in Pein's arms and he lost it.

Already the sand covered the top part of his body and the sand from the ground around him was being gathered to create the larger body.

He could feel the other Akatsuki members closing in on him, but he didn't care. He would crush them all. He would have their blood.

The Kushina-Pein dodged a wave of sand, still holding Naruto and stared impassively as Gaara completed his transformation into the Ichibi.

From the sky Deidara and Konan can soaring in, attacking the sand monster and taking out massive chucks of sand, with little effect.

The Ichibi was truly a monster to be contended with. Despite it being only one tailed, its bloodlust and shear size was enough to make it a more formable opponent than many of the higher level bijuu.

And unlike previous transformations into the Ichibi, this time, Gaara wasn't sitting exposed on the hear or unconscious. He was in complete control and was going to try to kill them all.

Suddenly red chakra literally exploded from Naruto, burning and sending Kushina-Pein flying into the woods.

Trees burned, the earth shook, and a full sized Kyuubi emerged onto the battlefield.

The battle had just begun.

XxXxX

And that's it for right now, next chapter the conclusion of the epic battle. Who will win good or evil? But when the bad guys are god and the good guys are demon possessed, who's good and who's evil?

For what Kushina looks like go to chapter 407- Pg, 17.

I don't know if that is really her or not, the damn manga went back to focusing on Sasuke (I so hope he gets killed). I'm going on the assumption it is. If it isn't, o well, this is a fanfiction.

Ja ne!


	12. Chapter 12

Deceiving Appearance

Disclaimer- I don't own this story or the characters in it.

XxXxX

"Speaking"

'Thought'

"**Demon/jutsus**"

XxXxX

A blast wave ripped across the land, uprooting trees and causing the very earth to tremble and crack.

And at the center of the destruction, a monster that had not been seen for over 14 years stood there, its nine tails weaving back and fourth.

Next to the Kyuubi another demon arose, this one made of sand and blood, the Ichibi.

Facing the two demons were some of the most powerful shinobi one the entire planet. The seven different Peins, Konan, and Deidra. The rest of the Akatsuki members had already evacuated the area, taking their prizes of the wounded and unconscious Jinchuuriki with them.

All that was left was to subdue to two Jinchuuriki in front of them and their plans for world domination would be one steep closer to completion. All they needed to do was subdue to two Jinchuuriki…

XxXxX

Deidra flew high into the sky on the back of his clay bird. Let Pein take care of the Kyuubi, his goal was the Ichibi.

Hearing the flutter of paper next to him he saw that Konan also joined him in the sky.

'So Leader-sama wants to take on the Kyuubi all by himself? Fine by me, as long Konan remembers the Ichibi is mine' he mused to himself, an insane smile forming on his face.

From her vantage point Konan was able to take in the entire battle field. Were once was a beautiful forest was now a sea of destruction. All the trees were destroyed, and the area closest to the Kyuubi was on fire. And by the Ichibi, the ground was slowly being turned into sand, forever destroying its ability to grow trees and expanding the vast desert of Wind country.

'Selfish creatures' she thought to herself, 'costing the world so much just to attempt to prolong your pitiful lives. God has willed it that you give up your power to aid him in bringing peace to the world, and still you resist?

"Unforgivable" she muttered to herself.

As if hearing her distain for their continued resistance, the Ichibi looked up at the two figures in the sky, and attacked.

Multiple blast of condensed air ripped through the sky, turning the once calm skies into a turbulent maelstrom.

It took all of Deidra's skill as an aviator to avoid getting hit or loosing control. Tossing and turning in the air, he barley avoided an oncoming blast before he was sucked into a vortex of swirling air.

Gritting his teeth, Deidra was able to ride out the temporary tornado and just as he was able to gained control of his bird, he saw another blast of air coming up from the ground.

But this blast wasn't aimed at him. Looking to were it was going he saw Konan also just emerging from a similar maelstrom that he was caught in. With no time to move and no hope of blocking the attack, the blast of air hit her dead on.

But instead of having her bones crushed or torn to shreds by the rotating air currents, she exploded into pieces of paper.

But she was not dead yet.

The fluttering pieces of paper suddenly stiffened and each on formed into an origami swallow.

Then as one, the newly formed flock of paper birds descended as a group, directly at the Ichibi.

The Ichibi tried to swat then out of the sky, but there were too many and they were too small.

As Deidra watched, each bird sliced deep gashes into the form of the Ichibi, cutting tendons, and shredding flesh. Or at least they would of, if their opponent was not made of sand.

Seeing her attack, Deidra unleashed his own swarm of clay birds. But when they made it to the still distracted Ichibi, these birds didn't just cut into him.

Diving head long into the Ichibi's sandy body, the clay birds went as far as they could before detonating.

Six explosions rocked the Ichibi, causing one of his legs to collapse, bringing him to the ground.

XxXxX

All seven Peins surrounded the Kyuubi, launching attack after attack, and avoiding the attacks sent by the Kyuubi.

So far they were at a standstill.

The Pein's couldn't get close enough to damage the Kyuubi, and Kyuubi couldn't hit them thanks to the Rinngana. As the battle progressed, the Peins were able to lead the Kyuubi away from the Ichibi, separating the two and making it easer for each group to bring down their demon without the other demon interfering. But this was something the Kyuubi was waiting for…

Inhaling deeply, the Kyuubi let out a river of blue plasma over the entire landscape.

The Preta-Pein tried to absorb the attack as it raced across the landscape towards the Peins, but was quickly overpower. -1-

The rolling plasma burned him and the entire forest to the ground. Nothing of him remained for the other Peins to save. The very earth caught on fire and the sky soon became blacked with all the ash in the air.

Landing on the ground, the Deva-Pein heard the sound of glass crack under his feet. The entire ground for kilometers around was nothing but a sheet of black glass.

Only the Preta-Pein was lost in that attack, but all the others were bunt and injured, Deva-Pein included.

The Kyuubi was just too big of a target, too strong. They needed to even the odds.

The Summoning-Pein and Animal-Pein both simultaneously jumped forward and in quick succession began bringing forth all sorts of giant beast to try to bring the Kyuubi down. -2-

A three headed dog leaped at the Kyuubi's right side, while a giant gorilla with two heads and a massive crab attacked from the left.

Two tails intercepted the dog in air, gutting it and sending its blood and guts all over the glass plain before it disappeared.

The gorilla meet a simulate fate, its limbs and heads lost to three of the Kyuubi's tails, but the crab was able to get close and latch onto the Kyuubi.

Holding the Kyuubi down and distracting it, the crab bought the Peins enough time to charge in close to the Kyuubi.

Unleashing a blast of pure chakra at the crab, the Kyuubi blew it up completely before it noticed the Pein's closing in on it. But it was too late.

Attacking as one, the Peins caused the Kyuubi to fall back, just as the Ichibi legs were taken out from underneath it by Deidra.

Unleashing a roar of rage, the Kyuubi brought all nine tails slamming into the ground, causing the glass plain to shatter and explode in millions of pieces of razor sharp fragments.

XxXxX

Seeing the Ichibi fall, Deidra smiled at his apparent victory. But soon the color drained from his face. The Ichibi's leg reformed and now its attention was fixed on him.

For a moment it seamed like the enter body of the Ichibi was melting back into the ground, but then arms of sand exploded from the ground.

Instead of waiting for him to join him on the ground, the Ichibi decided to join Deidra in the air.

Claws of sand ripped at him and Konan everywhere they went, and as Deidra dodged left to avoid one hand, he came face to face with the head of the Ichibi.

Quickly diving to avoid being eaten, Deidra sent a clay centipede at the head, exploding and disrupting the sand before it reformed. But in that time, Deidra saw the chance for victory, Gaara was inside the head.

Preparing his biggest bomb, one powerful enough to take out a city, Deidra singled Konan.

Diving towards the head of sand, Deidra tried to avoid the hands of sand, but they were unavoidable.

Releasing the bomb he activated it with a smile as his clay bird was torn to spreads beneath him. A sand claw grabbed his legs around the knees and crushed them mercilessly, as did another hand of sand crush his left arm, ripping it right off.

But it was too late. The bomb reached the Ichibi's head and exploded.

The blast singed his flesh and hair and disrupted the sand holding him, sending him flying away.

The Ichibi's head was shredded in the explosion, just barely protecting Gaara enough so that he wasn't injured, but he was left open to attack.

Quickly Konan covered him in her paper, binding his entire body, holding him down. Gaara struggled with all his might and sand clawed at the paper covering his face, but soon the lack of oxygen combined with the stress of releasing and controlling the Ichibi's chakra took hold and he lost consciousness.

As he fell out of the sky Deidra saw the sand all around him fall back to the earth and Gaara being lowered to the ground on paper wings.

Smiling he marveled at the different kind of beauty the falling sand had. Not art like his explosions, but a different type of beautiful destruction. Suddenly, he felt himself stop falling and a pair of hands holding onto his injured body.

Craning his neck back, he saw Konan holding onto him, lowering him to the ground on her paper angel wings.

Laughing to himself he thought, 'from this position she does look like an angel.'

XxXxX

Spiting blood out of his mouth, Deva-Pein glared at the Kyuubi from across the battlefield.

All the remain Pein's were hurt badly, the attacks of the Kyuubi having ripped though them, killing the Human-Pein and the Summoning-Pein.

Even now, every step they took tore through their feet as the glass shards from the shattered glass plain tore through their shoes.

But the Kyuubi was not unharmed either. The battle has taken a great deal of its energy and red smoke could be seen drifting off of it's body. Every second that passed, Pein could feel it's energy levels dropping as the host's body couldn't handle the corrupted chakra of the Kyuubi for extended periods of time.

Suddenly, over where the Ichibi was battling Konan and Deidra, a massive ball of fire was seen, followed by a defining explosion. The Ichibi's chakra signature disappeared, leaving only Konan and Deidra.

'All according to plan'

Seeing the Kyuubi distracted by the explosion, Animal-Pein and Deva-Pein acted as one.

Deva-Pien pulled the Kyuubi towards them right as Animal-Pein summoned a massive Centipede.

The two monsters crashed into each other but instead of the centipede falling, it was the Kyuubi's turn to fall onto the ground.

The centipede held onto the Kyuubi, ignoring it's own burning flesh from the direct contact with the Kyuubi until the Kyuubi started to dissipate back inside Naruto.

It's job done, the centipede fell off to the side, twitching and convulsing until it too died from it's exposure to the Kyuubi's poisonous chakra.

Animal-Pein walked up to Naruto's body, blood and black liquid pooling on the ground around Naruto as the second skin was partially melted due to the Kyuubi's chakra.

Without remorse or even the slightest bit of care, Animal-Pein threw Naruto over her shoulder before tuning to head back to Akatsuki's base.

XxXxX

Elsewhere, the coalition forces having gathered to take down the Akatsuki threat waited the arrival of Suna's forces.

Already some of their teams arrived, but the Jinchuuriki and their ANBU protection squads were no where to be found.

Standing with the squad commanders from the other villages, Jiraiya and Kakashi pondered what to do. They had conformation from Suna that the Jinchuuriki group did leave safely, but after that, they disappeared.

"We know they were traveling in this rout," said Jiraiya tracing his finger along the map. "So all we have to do is head in that direction to meet up with them."

"But if they deviated from this course at all then we would miss them entirely," said a muscular jonin from Kumo. "I say we split our forces and cover the entire area, just to be sure."

Nodding his head to the man's logic, Jiraiya could help but agree with him.

"We'll split up into our squads, forming a line as we move towards Suna" said Jiraiya pointing at the map and looking at everyone present. "We'll stay in contact via the radios. If you find something, report it. The closest squads will be there in matter of seconds to help you and they will pass the word down to everyone else so that we can all quickly converge on your location. Clear?"

"What happens if were confronted by border guards? This rout has us going over the Land of Fire" asked one of the Iwa Jonin.

"All border patrols have been notified of your presence and will let you through unopposed. But just in case, we'll stager the squads so that members of different villages are closer to each other than those from their own village. This way, whoever we may meet will be faced with shinobi from multiple villages."

Seeing that all assembled were in agreement, Jiraiya assigned them their positions on the line and dismissed them

XxXxX

Team seven, consisting of two jonins, Kakashi and Sasuke, and two chunins, Sakura and Sai, moved silently through the forest. To their left was an Iwa ANBU team, and to their right a Kusa chunin team lead by a jonin.

Moving along the supposed traveling rout of the Jinchuuriki, Kakashi had time to reflect upon the different paths his students took.

Sakura was the apprentice to the Hokage and soon to be the village's top healer.

Sasuke was the apprentice to none other than Jiraiya, the legendary toad sennin. He remembered when Sasuke first came to team seven, so full of angst and hatred for his brother that he would barely lift a finger to help anyone else. Hell, his quest for power almost drove him to abandon to village.

But since his hated brother's death and his apprenticeship under Jiraiya, the boys power and potential had exploded and he even came out of his shell and opened up a little, to Team Seven at least.

Thinking of the old Team Seven always ended with him thinking of his third genin student…Naruto.

It had been a shock to see that Naruto was actually a girl, and then to see her power level and potential literally explode right before his eyes.

Being made into a chunin by the Hokage, then killing Itachi, and earning a place in the ANBU. Every now and then, while she was still in the village, he would check up on her via his connections with the ANBU or by reading the mission reports. Truly she had gotten strong…her parents would have been proud.

Thinking about Naruto always made him feel bad. He did abandon her at the Valley of the End and then latter by only focusing on Sasuke. At the time he felt that Sasuke needed him more than she did, but he would be lying to himself if he still believed that.

Suddenly a massive wave of air slammed into Team Seven, ripping him from his thought and almost sending him flying.

Most of the trees stayed standing, but leaves and branches were blown off and over the radio he heard the commotion that told him all the other teams in the coalition were hit by the same force.

"Kakashi-san" came to voice from the lead Iwa ANBU, "Jiraiya -sama has sent orders to all teams to investigate the source of the shockwave. He feels it was caused by one of the Jinchuuriki."

"Roger" replied Kakashi before he turned to Team Seven. "Double time people. That shockwave could have been made by one of the Jinchuuriki and that means they are in trouble."

Sasuke, Sakura, and Sai nodded their head before they all took off, faster than before.

Traveling for over an hour, the pit in Kakashi's stomach filled with dread.

As they neared the epicenter of the blast, the trees went from damages, to knocked down, to uprooted, to completely destroyed.

Coming to a clearing, Kakashi's one visible eye opened wide in disbelief.

For miles around there was a plain of black glass and ash was falling from the sky as though it were snow.

Kakashi had seen this before, it was the aftermath of Naruto's plasma attacks. But never had he seen so much destruction from her before. Hell, even the Kyuubi never caused this much damage before.

After radioing in what was found, the stunned Team Seven moved onto the plain of black glass.

Quickly running through the hand seals and bighting his thumb, Kakashi summoned his pack of dogs to aid in the search.

"Do you want some of my toads to help out too?" asked Sasuke as he looked around at the plain of glass with calculating eyes.

"No, keep them in reserve" said Kakashi absentmindedly as he continues his search, still stunned.

Soon Team Seven was joined by the rest of the taskforce and together they began to investigate the area.

They found that about halfway through the glass plain their progress was halted as the glass on the ground was shattered, causing the ground to become a field of razors.

Continuing around the plain of grass they found other sings of the Jinchuuriki's battle, with multi-elemental damage to the area, scorched earth and even a small desert which could be attributed to Gaara.

Besides the physical damage, the entire area was completely saturated in the very different and unique chakras of the different Jinchuuriki and their demons.

XxXxX

"It looks like our worst fears have been realized" solemnly stated Jiraiya as he read over a letter the following day at the battle site.

Looking up at the gathered ninjas from all the different villages, Jiraiya continued, "This if from Suna. They were attacked by a single Akatsuki member. From the reports he was able to evade all attacks, killed all the shinobi guarding the twin Jinchuuriki children left in Suna and took them away."

"Are there any leads as to where they were taken?" asked a frustrated Kumo-nin.

After finding the battle field, the gathered shinobi spent every waking moment combing for any clues as to where Akatsuki might have taken the Jinchuuriki, but to no avail. All bodies, weapons, and any other possible clue as to where the Jinchuuriki might have been taken were gone.

"We must continue to look for evidence, any clue as to where they have been taken. Time is running out!"

XxXxX

In a dark cave hidden in the Land of Rain the nine Jinchuuriki and the one free demon were unconscious and in the center of their own individual confinement circles, the seals surrounding them glowing slightly.

The Akatsuki members knew that the other villages would double their efforts to find them, but they needed to recover.

Deidra had his arm sewn back on and was given prosthetic legs from Sasori due to the inability to recover his damaged legs.

All the Peins needed extensive healing on their shredded feet and black makes covered their skin from the Kyuubi's chakra.

The other Akatsuki, while not as injured as Deidra and Pein, used the day to recover from their own injuries and chakra exhaustion.

They would have liked to spend a little more time healing, but time was not on their side.

Gathering around the contentment circles, a massive stature with nine closed eyes rose from the ground.

The four surviving Peins, as well as two new ones, and all the other members Akatsuki took positions on the fingers of the stature and on the ground (the other Peins) in front of the stature.

"We will seal them all at the same time" said Deva-Pien. "Prepare yourselves."

A glowing mist extending from the statue's mouth and the extraction process got underway.

XxXxX

-1- Look at "Naruto Wiki" and search "Pain" for the different forms of Pain.

-2- Summoning- Pein is the first one (with long hair) while Animal-Pein is the one who has the body of Kushina. I know this doesn't fit with the whole 6 paths of Pain/ways of a ninja, but think of it this was, being a ninja is also part deception and trickery. Animal-Pein used deception against Naruto and summoning is also part deception, because you think you're fighting a person and end up fighting a giant animal.

Sorry for the delay, this chapter was hard to write.

So, should the Jinchuuriki be saved or should they die? I want to hear your opinions.

Ja ne!


	13. Chapter 13

Deceiving Appearance

Disclaimer- I don't own this story or the characters in it.

Sorry this has been so long coming out...I don't really have an excuse except that I've been preoccupied with other things

Sad to say this, but this is the last chapter of this fanfic! It took me a while to figure out the format of how I wanted this to be done. I hope you like it and I tried to take in to account with what the readers wanted as well as my own ideas for the fate of the Jinchuuriki

Read and enjoy, this fanfic was a blast to write and I am grateful to all of you who reviewed and gave me great feedback on my chapters! Thank you so much!

List of Jinchuuriki

Sabaku no Gaara - 1 tail- Ichibi

Nii Yugito - 2 tail -Nibi

Sohma Kakashi - 4 tail- Yonbi

Koizumi Makoto - 5 tail- Gobi

Nakamura Asuka - 6 tail- Rokubi

Kuroda Fukagawa - 7 tail- Shichibi

Fujiwara Yin & Fujiwara Yang - 8 tail- Hachibi (each twin contains half of it)

Uzumaki Naruto - 9 tail Kyuubi

XxXxX

"Speaking"

'Thought'

"**Demon/jutsus**"

XxXxX

Blackness surrounded Naruto and her body was numb.

For how long she just floated there, she did not know but as she lay there, the floating in the dark soon turned into laying down on a hard surface.

She could only see black but a light began glimmer in the corner of her eye. Turning her head she saw a fire in the dark surrounded by logs.

Getting up and slowly walking towards the fire, Naruto saw that she wasn't alone. Other people could be seen sitting on the logs and as Naruto joined them she was greeted by the sight of Gaara, Yugito, Kakashi, and Fukagawa.

Sitting down on one of the logs next to Gaara no one spoke and just stared at the fire.

"I was wondering who would be next" said Kakashi breaking the silence.

"You've been here before?" asked Fukagawa.

"You don't live to my age to not know what this place is" replied Kakashi.

"It is the border, between the world of the living and the world of the dead" answered Yugito. "The nibi would tell me about this place every once in a while."

"Does that mean we're dead?" asked Naruto.

"Dead or close to death, who knows" replied Kakashi and the group fell silent once more.

Soon the others drifted in until all nine Jinchuuriki were sitting in front of the fire.

Looking around at everyone present, Asuka asked the question that was on everyone's mind, "What happens now?"

XxXxX

The sealing process was going slowly, but minute by minute more and more of the energy of the tailed beast was being transferred into the stature, leaving the hosts and taking with it their lives.

From the shadows, Madara watched as watched as years of planning came to fruition.

'Soon everything will be under my control...'

XxXxX

The Jinchuuriki sat there, in the infinite dark between the world of the living and the world of the dead, staring at the fire before them.

They didn't talk, they just waited. Waited for what, even they didn't fully know.

For death to take them?

To be rescued?

For what?

It seemed like eternity passed without them saying a word, but minute by minute, the fire before them slowly grew dimmer and dimmer as they were enveloped in the shadows.

Looking up from his thoughts, Kakashi watched as the firelight dimed and his fellow Jinchuuriki faded from his vision.

"So, it's time for me to go." he said to himself looking at the dyeing embers of the fire before him.

"Yes, yes it is" came a females voice to his left.

Wiping his head around, Kakashi saw someone he never thought he would see again.

"Y-yoko?" he whispered, tears forming in his eyes.

Sitting next to him a Iwa Jonin uniform with long black hair, not looking a day over 23, his wife Yoko sat next to him.

"Yes darling it's me" said Yoko with a sad smile on her lips as she placed her hand on his.

Tears he promised himself he would never shed again streamed down his face. Yoko, his wife of 36 years and the only person who ever truly loved him was next to him looking the same as she did when he proposed.

"We've been waiting for you" she said standing up holding onto his hand.

"Y-Yoko...I've missed you so much" Kakashi cried holding onto her with both his hands and crying openly.

Enveloping him in a hug and cradling his head Yoko said softly, "I know love, I know."

Lifting him onto his feet she said looking into his eyes, "It's time to go. The children are waiting for us."

The children...his two sons who died when they were just toddlers...he would get to see them again too?

Turning his back to the dead fire and following Yoko, Kakashi found himself standing at the entrance to his old home in Iwagakure and instead of being an old man, he found himself in the body of his 25 year old self.

From inside the house he could hear the laughter of children playing, but as Yoko stepped arose the threshold, he found himself unable to move.

"Can... can I really go with you?" he asked crying. "I've done so many horrible things... killed so many people...can I really go with you" he whispered as he sank to his knees crying.

Once again Yoko wrapped her arms around him in a cradling hug and whispered as tears flowed down her cheeks, "You suffered enough already, my love. You are allowed this too."

Both stayed there, crying for a moment before the sound of the door bursting open sounded and two pairs of feet came running up the path.

"Papa! Papa's here!"

Enveloping his sons in a hug, Kakashi cried, "Yes, I'm here now. Sorry it took me so long to make it, but I'm here now."

XxXxX

Racing across the land, the collation force of ninja made for their destination.

They had successfully located where the Akatsuki ritual was being held and had already had to fight off attacks by the clones of the Akatsuki members.

One thought was on everybody's mind.

'Hang on, where coming for you!'

XxXxX

The remaining eight Jinchuuriki sat around the fading fire. Each was aware of Kakashi's absence, but soon, for each one of them, the fire before them slowly went out and their fellow Jinchuuriki faded into the black. And through it all, Gaara never let go of Naruto's had and vice versa.

The next to go where Yin and Yang. Too young to fully grasp exactly what was going on, they both knew about death, but much of the situation was lost to them.

All they knew was that the fading flames and the encroaching darkness was something that terrified them, and they held onto each other for dear life.

As the last flames died down and their fellow Jinchuuriki faded from their visions, the two were terrified, tears overflowing from their eyes as the hugged onto each other tight, lest they too fade into the black that surrounded them.

Silence, and they waited, shivering and scared.

Out of nowhere a red rolled between their feet. Curiosity overcoming their fear, they both picked up the ball and looked at it intensely.

"Hey, come on you two, you going to look at the ball all day or are you going to pass it?" came a young voice from behind them.

Turning around, they found themselves in a playground that seemed to stretch on forever with green grass, blue skies and trees perfect for climbing on. Swing sets, ball fields, and every other type of activity a child could think of playing in this park could be seen.

Standing in fount of Yin and Yang was a group of children, boys and girls, some younger than them and some older, all looking at them expectantly.

"Well, you going to pass the ball or not?" said the boy from before. "We always need more people to play so come on!"

Smiling the twins nodded their heads before running off to join the other kids playing, leaving the cruelty and the hardship of the world behind. No longer will they be forced to train as weapons. Here, they can play and have fun as long as they wanted.

XxXxX

Yugito watched as the twins faded from her vision and not long after that, everyone else.

Sitting by herself she nudged the embers of the fire with her toe, causing flames to re appear briefly before dying down again. She kicked it again and again, refusing to let the flames die.

She would not fade away into the black, she would persist. She will stay strong, and she WILL survive!

"Do not go gently into that good night, Rage, rage against the dying of the light." (1)

Yugito stopped her kicking and with wide eyes looked at the seat next the her.

There sitting in his new genin uniform and a brand new Kumo headband on was her older brother, looking the same as she last saw him right before he set out on his first C-class mission when she was a little girl...the same mission he lost his life in.

Collapsing to the ground with a muffled cry, she called out, "Onii-san? Is that you?"

"I'm afraid it is Yugito-chan" her bother said with a sad smile.

"NO! I refuse to go! I will not die!" Yugito raged

"I will not die, I will not let myself go!" she continued as her bother walked towards her.

"I won't be like you! I won't let myself die, not like this, not like this..."

As her bother stood over her, no longer sitting there was the proud shinobi known as Nii Yugito, but her four year old self.

"I won't go! I'm not weak like you!"

Looking up at her brother tears streaming down her face, "You left me behind! You said you would be back! You lied-" Yugito raged but was cut off as her brother enveloped her four year old body into a deep hug.

"I'm sorry I couldn't keep my promises Yugito-chan, I am so very sorry."

"Onii-chan" Yugito cried, "I don't want to die!"

"I'm not here to take you away" he said to his crying sister, "I'm here to tell you to live."

Pulling away from her bother, the now older Yugito wiped the tears from her eyes.

"So tell me, Yugito-chan, tell me about what kind of person you became."

XxXxX

From his vantage point, Madara frowned. A couple of days have already passed, but the sealing was still far from complete. The Yonbi and the Hachibi were already fully inside the statue, but the others were taking longer.

'Holding onto their lives, it seems'

An explosion rocked the room as the stone blocking the entrance exploded inward.

'And here they come. We can pause the sealing process here and take care of these pest...maybe even use their chakra to speed this process up.' Madara thought to himself, a slime forming hidden underneath his mask.

Already the collation forces moved to engage the members of Akatsuki.

With a wave of his hand, dozens of other shinobi fell from the roof of the cave, dressed in the Akatsuki cloaks and began fighting the collation forces.

'If they want a war, they can have a war!'

XxXxX

As the fire died down and the people around him faded away into the black nothings, Makoto closed his eyes and prayed.

He didn't pray for his life, for his soul, or even the souls of his fellow Jinchuuriki. He just prayed.

"_To everything there is season, and a time to every purpose under the Heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time pluck what is planted; A time to kill and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and time to gather the stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace_" came voice from all around Makoto.(2)

Opening his eyes, Makoto was still sitting in front of the low burning fire, but he was no longer alone. Across from him sat a figure, male or female, he could not tell, made up of white light. But even in the darkness, the white light didn't illuminate the world around the figure or even sting Makoto's eyes at all.

"Who are you?" Makoto asked the figure.

"_Come now...you were just talking to me a moment ago. Have you forgotten already_?"

"God?"

"_In a manner of speaking, yes_" said the figure crossing it's legs and resting it's head on its hands. "_I am God, but God is also much more than I am._"

"Why are you here?"

"_Why am I here, you ask? Why wouldn't I be here is the question you should be asking. I am here to impart upon you...am understanding_."

"An understanding?"

"_Yes, of life, the universe, yourself. You were in the process of asking me why this all happened to you. Why you had the Gobi sealed inside you, why there are wars, why people suffer...In short, you wanted to know why for everything, so I will tell you why._"

"_In words that you can understand...why not? I could control everything so there would be no suffering, not disasters, no death. But for what purposes. If it was like that why not just revert everything back to nothing and leave it like that. The rules of nature were set down to give order to the universe order while allowing for changes to occur, adversity to be meet and overcome. In short to allow you to grow._"

"_And with this growth comes your free will that you seem to take for granted most of the time. With that free will you can choose to see the world around you as ever you please, to react to it in whatever manner you want, and even try to change it with whatever means you can use. The Gobi was sealed inside you because a man chose to seal it inside you. All you could do is accept it, but don't go blaming me for it, instead blame that man. Same with wars and disasters. It's you humans that fight each other or it's the forces of nature that harm you. You don't like it, you can always...quit_" Gods aid with a smile.

"So you want me to stop complaining about it then and just accept my lot in life and my death?" Makoto said with a raised voice.

"_Heavens no boy, I'm am telling you to do what you feel is right! Didn't you pay attention to what I said first. There is time for everything...but it is up to you to grasp what that time is and take advantage of it. You could let yourself pass on now, but it not your time yet. There is still things for you to do, places to see, and people to meet. Those people will shape you just as much as you shape them. So live my child._"

"But what about the other?" asked Makoto desperately as God began to fade away.

"_What about them? They have to make their own choices and face the consequences of others that they already made. Remember nothing is for free and every action has a consequence. Remember that._"

And with that the white figure of God faded completely away, leaving Makoto alone in front of the fire again.

"_One more thing_" said God, suddenly appearing next to Makoto and causing him to jump up in surprise.

Walking up to him, God said "_If you chose the path of life, remember..._" before whispering a secret into his ear and causing Makoto's eyes to go wide with shock

Makoto was just about to ask why when God silenced him my placing a finger on his lips.

"_Think of this as a present, and watch out for falling rocks._"

And with that God was gone, leaving Makoto alone again in front of the fading fire.

"But how do I make sure I live...by choosing to live!" Makoto said with a smile.

XxXxX

As Asuka sat in front of the fire all by herself, her emotions raging from fear to resentment and anger.

Suddenly the fire flared up and she covered her face with her hands to protect herself from the flames.

When the fire died down and she opened her eyes, she suddenly wished with all her heart to be back in the dark by herself.

She was standing on a bridge floating above a sea of fire and blood spilling into an endless chasm. In front of her a massive, wicked gate loomed and the screams of the damned could be heard from everywhere.

She was in hell.

Shaking, Asuka tried to step away from the gate, but to her shock, found herself in the arms of the person behind her.

Fearful, she tuned to see a figure of complete darkness standing behind her, holding onto her shoulders.

"**Ah yes, Nakamura Asuka**" the figure hissed out, it's voice bringing with it the screams of the damned souls of hell with it.

"**You've been expected.**"

"N--n-n-n-no, I shouldn't be here!" Asuka said hyperventilating and looking shocked.

"**Oh, but you should.**" the figure leered at her, enjoying her discomfort.

"**You see, I am never wrong when it comes to people who come here.**"

"But what did I do! I was a good Shinobi, I followed my orders, I wasn't cruel or debase! What did I do wrong!"

"**True, true, all true**" the figure hissed as it forced her to walk towards the gate.

"**But there was that one mission. You destroyed an entire village under orders from your leader. Before you say it, yes you followed your orders and yes they were trying to rebel. But you didn't stop with the solders and the leaders of the rebellion. No you took it a step further and killed everyone, every man, woman, child, and even every dog and cat in that village!**" the figure raged, grabbing both her shoulders in a painful vice-like grip.

"**And don't say it was just following orders. You killed them all, you! And you don't even have your demon to blame either, it was ALL YOU!**"

Dragging the sobbing Asuka towards the gate the figure continued, "**For your crimes you deserve to suffer, deserve the agony that awaits you.**"

The gates of hell opened and the figure shoved her into hell for only a minute before pulling her out again.

"**But now is not your time to suffer**" said the figure flinging the battered, whimpering Asuka to the ground. "**Your life is not over yet. Think of this as...a preview of things to come. If you do not repent and make up for your past crimes with what time you have left, then you and I will be seeing each other again**" the voice leered before merciful darkness surrounded Asuka and she found herself in front of the fading fire again.

Looking at the fire, she broke down crying. She knew that if she survived, she would repent for her past actions...but how?

From behind her, the voice of God came, "_You can start with an apology and work your way from there._"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm so very sorry..."

XxXxX

Hidan was dead...well, as dead as he could be, anyways.

Kakuzu didn't really think he could have survived being minced by the Suna fan users and the Kiri swords men, but who knows.

Without breaking his train of thought, Kakuzu plunged his hands and threads into the chest of the Iwa-nin who he was fighting and ripped out his heart, replacing one that he lost. Already he has lost seven hearts, and if it wasn't for his ability to quickly take new ones he would be dead.

Explosions could be seen and felt a little ways away where Deidara fought and Kakuzu was surprised the fool didn't try to blow himself up yet and take out all his enemies with him.

Quickly ducking down, Kakuzu avoided the sword of the Kiri-nin behind him before sending spikes of thread up to get him.

The Kiri-nin avoided the would be fatal blow and landed a few feet away, close to his comrades from the different villages.

"Is that all you've got?" taunted Kakuzu.

But just as he took a step forward, he found himself unable to move.

"Capture, successful" came the voice of Shikamaru behind him.

"Shit!" he cursed as eight shinobi from all the different nations attacked him at once, death it would seems, might have finally caught up to him.

XxXxX

Fukagawa sat alone by the fire, starring at the flames.

He didn't fear death, but he also didn't want to die either.

As the fire faded he could see something appearing out of the darkness that surrounded him.

At first it was a faint gray color, twisting and turning like a snake as far as the eye could see, but as he looked, the line grew more soled and he could see shapes walking upon a white path.

Some were humans, some were animals, but others were thinks he's never seen before. Spirits and monsters from beyond his imagination walked the path with the humans and animal he was so used to seeing.

Part of him wanted to join them in their parade, but another part of him told him to stay by the fire and wait. For what, he did not know.

As the parade passed, no one seemed to notice him sitting by the side of the road and as time passed, the desire to go with them steadily grew.

"If you go with them, you can never return" came a child's voice next to him.

Turning his head, he was meet by a little girl in a sunflower dress, kicking her legs back and forth on the log he sat on.

"But if you stay, you might never know where they are going...what will you do."

"Who are you?" he asked looking at the little girl.

"Me? Don't you recognize me? Oh well, I guess it's a little soon for you to know who I am anyways" said the little girl with a giggle.

"So if I go with them..." Fukagawa said gesturing to the parade.

"You will die" finished the little girl.

"But if you stay here, you might also die. To live you need to return to the place where you are from."

"But how do I do that? I've been captured by the enemy and I'm currently having the Shichibi sucked out of me. When they are done, I will die!"

"True. But you are not alone in the world" said the little girl getting up and plopping herself onto his lap.

"You have a choice to make, stay here and tend the fire's of life, go with the parade of death where they are heading? It's your choice. Each path can bring you happiness or suffering, depending on what you do."

"I think..I thing I will stay here."

As he said this the parade and the little girl began to fade from his sights.

"I knew you would make the right choice. See you in the future...Otosan..."

XxXxX

Naruto and Gaara sat by the fire together.

As the firelight dimed down and dies, they griped each other's hands tighter and tighter, afraid to let the other go.

Suddenly Naruto could no longer feel the warmth of Gaara's hand and looking over to where he sat, she let out a muffled cry as he was nowhere to be found.

Looking around desperately, tears forming in her eyes, Naruto say that no one was to be found. She was alone in front of the embers of the fire they once all shared.

"I was hoping that it would be many years from now that you would come here, Naruto-chan" came a female's voice from Naruto's right.

Whipping her head around, there was Kushina with her long red hair flowing down across her back as she smiled sadly at Naruto.

"Okasan...Is that you, really you? This isn't another trick... is it?" Naruto said tears coming down her cheeks.

"It's me baby, it's me" said Kushina, cradling Naruto in her arms.

"Okasan...he...he used your body to get close to me and.."

"I know, I know" said Kushina resting her head on Naruto's head.

"Where's Gaara-kun, Okasan? Where is everyone else?"

"Everyone is in their own place. Your are dying, honey. Akatsuki is currently extracting the Kyuubi from you and if they are not stopped, you will die."

"But, what can I do? How can I stop them?"

"Unfortunate...nothing. Now it's up to those in the world of the living to save you. If they succeed, you will live. But if they fail, I'm afraid that you will die."

"What will happen to me when I die?"

"That, dear, if for you to decide. The next world is not something that I can explain, you have to see it for yourself. But it is not yet your time" Kushina said firmly, holding onto Naruto's shoulders and looking into her eyes. "You must never give up! No matter what! You have a greater destiny to fulfill and only once that is done," Kushina's face turning into a sad smile, "then, only then can you come back here."

"But enough of this sad talk, Naruto-chan. Tell me about yourself. Tell me about the women you've become. Tell me about your hopes and your dreams...and I'll tell you about myself..."

XxXxX

Madara looked over the scene before him with distant.

His organization had fallen.

Akatsuki was finished.

Deidara, Sasori sori, Hidan, Kakuzu, Kisame, Konan, Zetsu, and even Pain had fallen. Caught inside the sealing chamber, they couldn't use their full power, and the coalition forces took full advantage of this, swarming them and ignoring their casualties, they were wining through a battle of pure attrition.

He was finished. He would never win this on his own. Even if he killed all the shinobi present here, he could never finish the sealing process by himself.

"You've won for now...but this is not the end" he snarled before disappearing in a fold in space and time. When and where he would next show himself, no one knew.

XxXxX

Gaara was alone. In the end, even Naruto disappeared from his vision.

As the fire died down he could see figures emerging from the darkness.

Figures he knew.

Each and every one was a person that he killed in one way or another.

He saw his mother, his uncle, the assassins his fathered hired, the people he killed on missions, and the people he killed on the streets for just looking at him the wrong way when he was little.

"You've been keeping me busy in your short life so fare" came a woman's voice from next to him.

Looking to his left, a women dressed in a black gothic outfit with black hair, snow white skin, and the eye of Horus under her right eye sat there looking at him with a smile. (3)

"Hello, Gaara-kun, it's been a while. You were so cute when you were born, and now look at you," she said standing up and walking around Gaara, "You've only gotten cuter."

"Who are you?" asked Gaara eyeing the woman suspiciously.

"Why, I'm Death! A pleasure to meet you for the second time!"

"So, are you here to talk me away?"

"No, no, my dear Gaara-kun. I'm here just to visit you. Everyone else is being visited by someone else, So I decided to drop in on you and tell you something important."

Gaara's eye's opened wide as Death walked right up to him and whispered into his ear.

"Live."

With that, she pushed Gaara back, and as he began to fall into the infinite blackness he could he Death smiling and waving at him.

"See ya latter, Gaara-kun..."

With a gasp, Gaara opened his eyes. Everything was blurry and it took him a few minutes for his vision to clear.

"He's awake!" someone called from next to him. "The Kazekage is awake!"

Immediately the faces of his brother and sister filled his vision.

"Gaara can you hear me?" Temari said, looking down at her brother.

Nodding his head, Gaara moved to stand and was immediately helped up by Kankuro and Temari.

Surveying the scene before him, he saw that he was in a ruined chamber, the walls blown out and the sealing having a massive gaping hole in it.

All around him there was battered and bruised shinobi looking over bodies of getting tended to by medic-nins.

"What happened?" he asked.

"When you and the others were captured, the rest of the coalition forces tracked down where Akatsuki was, we fought them and we won! But not without a great many casualties on out part" said Temari solemnly.

Looking over the battle field, Gaara say hundreds of bodies, some wearing the Akatsuki cloaks and some dressed in the normal artier of the shinobi from the different villages across the elemental nations.

"Where is Naruto-chan and the other?" Gaara asked suddenly, wiping his head around towards Temari.

"They are on their way to Konoha, the closest village to our present location. They are alive and still have their demons. We were just about to move you too, when you woke up" said Temari.

"I'm sorry to say this but, Kakashi...he did not survive. His demon was taken and he died. The twins Yin and Yang also died, lost their demon and died but elder Chiyo, she did...something ...that brought them back to life, gave up her own life in the process though..." said Kankuro with his head down.

Nodding his head, Gaara looked out once again at the battle field.

"We need to get the wounded tended to and the bodies made ready for transport back-"

"Gaara-kun, we have it covered" said Temari softly. You are still weak from your ordeal, please let us handle this and go to Konoha with the others."

"...Ok"

XxXxX

In Konoha Gaara found himself in the doorway of one of the rooms looking at the patient within. This particular room contained something far more important to him then the shinobi who risked their lives to save him. It contained the women he loved.

Entering the room Gaara found Naruto sitting up in bead, looking outside as the sun began to rise over the village.

"Is it really over, Gaara-kun. Are they really gone?"

"From what we can tell yes...they will not hunt us again."

Looking at Gaara with a sad smiling she asked, "And at what cost were we saved at?"

"Too high of a cost...to high..."

Silence filled the room as Gaara moved to sit on the side of the bead with Naruto, watching the sun rise higher and higher over the village.

Reaching into his pocket, Gaara thumbed a little box he had hidden there before pulling in out and facing Naruto.

"Uzumaki Naruto" he said catching her attending before opening the box towards her.

"Will you marry me?"

Silence filled the room before Naruto, tears of joy coming down her cheeks answered.

"Yes"

The End.

XxXxX

(1) From the poem "Do not go gently into that good night" by Dylan Thomas

(2) From the Bible Ecclesiastes 3:1-9

(3) Death from the Sandman series.

And that is it for Deceiving Appearance!

I hoped you enjoyed reading this story and if you liked it, please check out my other stories!


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